Adam, how frustrating is it that given at three quarter time you were in it?

Yeah, the year has been frustrating, but the glass is half full. I think some of the things we’ve been doing since the bye we’ve been more consistent, but we haven’t had quite the reward. Obviously, the Essendon game was but a few quarters are letting us down, I feel like we are getting more consistent as we go but we are not getting the results. I think we had 20 inside 50s for two goals in the third quarter. The first half we hung in there, I think there was a minute and a half to go and we conceded a couple of goals. There was three points in it then they kicked the last two goals before half time, but the numbers suggested they should have been further in front. The second half we thought was better than the first half.

When you say glass half full – would you say kids like Culley and Bazzo are part of that?

Absolutely – I thought some of our senior players were down in particular in the first half with our mids and so many younger players helped carry the load so that is a positive. One thing we will get from this year is some exposure so even Bailey Williams who has been thrown a lot this year – he held his own to a certain degree, I think we had nine clearances but that doesn’t procure them from making mistakes, learning, and costing us goals here and there. I thought a lot of our young guys have taken a step forward.

What happened to Tim Kelly? Was he bothered at all by that injury issue from last week?

I reckon he would say no, I reckon he just got beaten on the day. Trying to find a way to get back into the game and a few of our mids were down today on possessions but I thought the intent and endeavour in the second half was there. It was just a low possession game for our midfield – I thought the second half they were a bit better. But yeah, nothing wrong with Tim.

He seemed to be favouring the leg at times – he probably would say no it was fine but?

Yeah – he’s come off a corky. He had a light week, I’m sure he wouldn’t want me to say that he was hampered by it. That wasn’t the feedback we got. He had a quiet day.

Just further to Bailey Williams, it did seem like it was a big step forward for him today, was he throwing his body around more or did you notice anything different?

He’s still growing physically and mentally with what is going on. Rotham was a mini success, in particular the first half trying something different that puts more responsibility on Bailey Williams this week. I mean, Jamieson has had a big year from where he’s coming from so, we tried something a little bit different and that paid us back. He (Rotham) kicked a couple of goals in the first half which is great for him. We probably lowered our colours overall in the midfield. But there were periods there we were quite dominant.

What do you make of the battle between King and Barrass?

Yeah, good. He might not be in contention for it, but he is all Australian standard at the moment, Tom. Half time we had 32 inside 50s against, so not many fullbacks get to compete with that number and do a pretty good job. So, he probably had over 20 touches again. I don’t know who won the battle, but I feel like Tom has almost been our best player every week for the last six weeks. He’s really stood up with his leadership, he’s brought in on everything we’re doing. I’m proud of the season he has had so far.

Have you gotten a bit more out of Jai Cully that you anticipated so far?

Yeah, it’s a little bit of an unknown with Jai. I mean, he missed the draft, obviously last year and he started the season under 18s level and now he’s played his second game of AFL and sixth game of men’s football. So, he’s not shirking the issues is he? He’s playing to his strengths. Great for him to kick that goal in the last quarter, and hopefully there’s many games in front of him. He’s got some work to do but he’s a good size, I think he’s 194cm and he likes the contest which is where we need to be at the moment.

How are you managing him from here as far as giving him midfield responsibility?

We’re going to give these guys chances; they need to earn their spot and hold their spot, but we know where they’re at. So, the levels of performance might be a bit different for a younger player. Today was another step forward from last week.

You can see some goals directly from blokes falling over in the conditions, what did you think of the conditions that were presented to you?

We didn’t lose the game because of the surface, but I thought they did a great job getting the ground that way. The rain was heavy and had been all week, it was fantastic considering what they’ve gone through, so I think they did a good job and it was going to slippery. The problem we probably have was one side of the ground was quite dry and the other was a bit boggy but that’s okay when both teams had to deal with it. So, I didn’t think it had any influence on the game or if there were a few goals that probably weren’t there. Even the very last one with Tom Barrass slipping over it in the goalkeeper’s box last night but that’s the way it is.

Are you comfortable with that sore of thing happening again?

We’re 17^th so I’m not really worried about it. Maybe if it was a prelim, it might be different. So, we’re not really thinking about those little things and we’re trying to play consistent footy, consistent brand that stands up eventually and trying to improve on the last. Every week we’re trying to improve so that’s probably our focus, not the ground.

How’s Nic Nat and Yeo looking for next week?

Yeah, on the positive. I think hopefully we get Willie back and Petruccelle will be available. West was the sub tonight, we thought he needed another run. Hopefully there are no injuries, that there might be some good inclusions next week.

So potentially all four did you say, knowing Naitanui, Yeo, Petruccelle and Rioli?

Well, that’s the plan today, but we will talk on Thursday and we’ll see what’s going on. We’ve missed a lot of players throughout the season had a great opportunity to expose some younger players, some players have stood up – some haven’t but next week is probably the best opportunity to get to play them.

Just on Rotham in the ruck, are you just plugging a hole or are you looking at that for the future?

It’s a good question, we’ve always been two rucks. Nic’s game time is always a bit lower and this year we’ve explored that but no he just brings something a little bit different so we might do it next week or we might not.

Did you know he could jump like that?

He’s got a good leap, he’s quick too. We would have conceded a few goals from stoppages today – probably seven. So, was that because we had a 193cm ruck or was it craft or the way we set up behind the ball?  We’ll look at that but him kicking a couple of goals first time he’s ever played forward in our side is a positive as well.