Strange game obviously, how do you explain the fluctuation in effort and energy?
“It’s a jekylle and hyde type of game - the first quarter was the most disappointing part of today. The last quarter the game was up for grabs, I thought we spent a lot of energy getting back into the game but the first quarter we knew what they were going to bring and they are a very honest side Carlton, contest driven, stoppage but we gave them 4 or 5 goals from turn overs and probably got caught up with going too quick. I thought they were brutal in the first quarter around the ball, and I thought we overused it a tiny bit. They had about 24 inside 50s so we took a deep breath and the second and third quarter I was proud how they responded – there were some little wins we take out of those 2 quarters. The third was a good battle – we felt like we had plenty of opportunity. Going into the last quarter 10 points down, the game up for grabs. We were disappointed how we couldn’t defend the Blues their contests and clearances took over. The first quarter was the part we can’t except – we need to do better than that.”
It looked like you gave them a decent spray at quarter time, how did that reflect so quickly in the second quarter?
“I think our best is getting pretty good, I think we are still missing a lot of personnel and we are still working through some of our younger players coming through with the confidence of our group as well. I don’t think we underestimated Carlton but they are a tough side - if you let them dictate terms you can get touched up. We re-started again at quarter time, the guys dug in and responded. They were really good in some patches and we were really poor in other patches.”
How did you think in defence they handled the two big boys?
“They kicked 10 goals between them with 70 inside 50s against us. I’m not pointing the finger at Edwards, Bazzo or Barras. I think when you get that much supply and you’re A-grade talent you are probably going to kick a few. I thought there were pretty good battles all day in our back half but overwhelmed with supply, so you know its hard to be critical of our defenders when up the ground there is a bit going on.”
Where did they break in that last quarter?
“Well, it’s strange, from the very first bounce we get a clearance and a deep entry - I think we turned the ball over pretty shallow and then they controlled the ball which they did a fair bit in the last quarter. We couldn’t get the ball off them so whether that is energy, system or effort we need to look at that, but it was pretty systematic in the last. The last quarter was disappointing, we are looking to consolidate where we are at and get these little wins - and yeah that didn’t happen.”
Josh Kennedy to kick his 700th club goal tonight, was that a good moment?
“Yeah, he’s a champion, he’s an outstanding man so he gets everything he deserves and deserves everything he gets – he has been great for us but obviously we need to look to the future as well and what’s coming. Oscar Allen has been out for the whole year and we think he is going to be a pretty good acquisition for us next year. Until that happens JK has been more than adequate for us for a long period of time.”
Just on the quarter time spray, it’s not so often you see you that vocal. Can you talk us through the emotions that built up what it felt like?
“We don’t want to get beaten by what you know. We respect the brand Carlton play because it is built around being tough and hard around the ball, they’ve got some talent and an honest way of playing - we described that all week. I can’t remember what I said to be honest, but we didn’t do a lot different in the second quarter. I think we might have equalled the game a little bit and let them get to work. We built momentum; we got some dominance – we just couldn’t sustain it.”
We saw Jack Petruccelle subbed out, what is the issue and how bad is it?
“Minor hamstring awareness, so we didn’t want to take a risk.”
You touched on looking towards the future and Kennedy, when do you start to look at getting those guys in the WAFL a crack and see what they are like for a few weeks at the expense at picking the best team?
“We’ve been doing that; we’ve been hampered a little bit with availability so exposing some younger players has been a priority. You can’t say that Shannon Hurn doesn’t deserve to play – he’s been our best player today. Getting that balance right of what we are embarking on in the future is not going to resolve itself today. We get Bazzo, Edwards, Hough, Williams and some of these younger players some exposure to footy which is great and then we start to transition as we go. Unfortunately, we can’t do it in one or two rounds or even the back half of the year but what we want to be is competitive and hard to play against and today we were for two quarters.”
You probably expected Nic Nat to dominate a bit more today, was he okay?
“Yeah, a little bit sore second game up. I think we all saw Nic labour a little bit early. He’s craft and the way he went about it after quarter time was sharp. He’s been out for 6 to 7 weeks if not longer before he played last week so he’ll be better for the run.”
Do you think he’ll be back for next week?
“We will have to see; we are not going to risk him. When he is up like he was in that second quarter everyone rises a bit higher, but we can’t rely on that but no doubt he’s best is great for us.”
Would you consider a rest for JK?
"That’ll be up to Josh, he knows his body more than anyone so if he tells me his body is right to go we will play him. We don’t have a lot at WAFL level at the moment to come up and expose. Young Jack Williams is still learning his craft so he’s probably not quite ready just yet. We’d like to give him a go so we will see what happens with JK.”
Jaimie Cripps just went into isolation the last couple of days?
“We missed Crippa today. Obviously, we are missing a few with Yeo, Allen and Sheed and Gov but Crippa has been in pretty good form for us. We had to do a few things differently – we found out two days ago that he went into the protocols but that’s footy – that happens across the board.”
