Disappointing loss in that game, what are your thoughts coming out of it?

I thought it wasn’t us, it wasn’t the way we usually play footy, I thought we were beaten in all aspects of the game. We got smashed around the ball and with our clearances. We couldn’t move the ball and we got trapped in our back half a lot. It didn’t resemble the way we play.

You had a significantly better second half than your first. What changed over the break?

We tried a few things, some positional changes. But I think at the end of the day it came down to will, want and endeavour around the contest. I thought our last quarter was obviously better than we did in the first three but the game was gone by then so that’s something we reiterated to the players, that’s not the way we want to play and that we are better than that. We need to get back on the horse pretty much straight away and start thinking about our next opponent which is Essendon.

Despite the loss your leadership group still performed well numbers wise, how vital is it to have them lifting the team under pressure?

It’s crucial that our leaders perform well, however I thought they were beaten today. I thought their midfield  really won the footy around the clearance. I think it was minus-14 for the day around stoppages. They were able to get field position off the back of that and then hit the scoreboard so our mids were okay, but I thought they were beaten tonight.

What positives will you take out of this game into next week against Essendon?

I think what we’ve done over the last two weeks and in that last quarter has been really strong. We’d like to be a little bit closer to our opposition going into three-quarter time, if not in front. I think our fitness has really shone through over the last couple of weeks so If we can take anything away from it it’s the work we’ve done over the last 10 weeks is paying off for us. But we need to get our first halves right and be in games heading into those last quarters.

What will be the key themes you will be telling the players this week ahead of Essendon?

I think they’ve got to believe. We were a team that have achieved very little over the last four years, we showed signs last week, but we’ve got to believe that we are good enough to beat teams. We will stick together tonight and enjoy each other’s company even though we lost and stick together with the belief that we can play better footy than that and bring our best effort next week.