Big improvement from the last time you played Richmond, what did you make of it?

“I thought the game was up for grabs halfway through the third. There must have been an 11 to 12-point difference in the third quarter. I think there was a down field free kick, and they kicked the first goal of the last which sort of took away maybe a chance of winning. The guys were better with our method around the contest, we are getting supply this week – probably the highest for the year which helps quite a bit. We didn’t kick straight, that always hurts but there were moments of the game we were on top.”

How much did Nic (Naitanui) help?

“Nic is a pretty good player, just shows how important he is for us. He’s our Max Gawn, he helped today for sure. I thought there were some other areas of our game we were working pretty hard on and getting better slowly as well. Defence wise still way too high the scores against turnovers but that’s what Richmond do, they make you pay on some bad turnovers we had and some good play as well.”

Elliot Yeo’s injury, how bad is it?

“Looks like he’s done a hamstring so he just can’t get a run at it Yeoy. He’s been pretty good for us the last 3 to 4 weeks, building him up the right way and unfortunately just got in an awkward position and got pushed in the back going full tilt which is one of those classic ones you know straight away.”

It’s been a tough year for Yeo, hasn’t it?

“Yeah, he’s not alone. We probably have about seven players out for the year now, so it’s been a tough couple of years for him really. Today was probably the first time we’ve had (Luke) Shuey, Yeo, Naitanui, (Tim) Kelly together.”

You mentioned Kelly, he’s been pretty good obviously?

“Yeah, Tim’s been a great acquisition, today when we got going, he was very important to the side keeping us together and when we got going in the third – he played a big part.”

How pleased were you with being down by 39 at the start of third quarter and being able to get a run on to get right back into the game?

“We are a different side and have made about 10 changes since the last time we played to now and we have a lot of senior blokes back in the team – so our expectations are that we have a more maturity. To come back from that deficient, I didn’t think we were miles off it at half time either, we had a bad period there in the second quarter where they got their game going, and when they are up, they are really hard to stop. We found a way through the stoppages and contested ball in the third and kicked 5 goals 6 in the third quarter so that could have been a different story, but it wasn’t."

How about Sam’s (Petrevski-Seton) performance coming on as a sub?

“He was going to come on as a forward if he came on at all - then obviously we lost Yeoy. He played back the last time we played Richmond and he has good poise, he’s tough and tackles well so there might be a spot for him.”

Did you spend much time at half time talking about Dustin Martin and his impact, did you know that he wasn’t going to come on in the third quarter?

“No, I didn’t know, we spent a little time talking about it. How they do it it’s pretty hard to stop – we probably could have locked him down with Yeoy then they both got subbed out. I thought for the most part we had some good individual battles – we broke even and won a couple and lost a couple.”

The debutant Zane Trew, nice little moment?

“He was part of the resurgence - he’s a contested player, he’s very clean and will only get better and great to see him kick his first goal for the football club.”

Josh Kennedy just needed a week off?

“Yeah, we would have played him if we could have but he needed a week off so hopefully he will be alright for the Blues next week. So, it doesn’t get any easier but we think he might be alright for then.”

The flight over, was it a bit scary?

“It must happen a bit I suppose but when the announcement comes over that says the right engine is shutting down and we get priority, then when we land there were fire trucks on either side. Half the guys didn’t know because they had their headphones on, and the other half were just a little bit panicky but the pilot did a great job and it was all good.”