Close result, how did you see it?
They kept us in it a bit, they missed a lot of opportunities. We got going better in the second half but that first half they had a lot more territory than us and it made it really hard for us to score. We played around with a few things and fixed a few things but they kept us in the game.
You’ve been able to enjoy a lot of the young talent coming through that’s giving people a look into the future of West Coast. Who stood out for you today in that respect?
We’ve got some good young players coming through. Sarah Lakay in the ruck keeps developing, obviously Ella Roberts up forward she kicked our first goal tonight. Jaide Britton out on the wing is just a running machine, she runs all day and Charlie Thomas is also developing in her second year. We’ve had three nominations for the Rising Star in the last three weeks, so we feel we are on the right path. It’ll turn for us, we’ve still got some hard work to go. There’re patches in games you think if we put it together for four quarters we will be okay. That’s just the evolution and growth of our group and it’ll just take a little bit more time.
Sophie McDonald seems to always get the toughest forwards and sits in that goal square in the least desirable position on the ground. How have you seen her season, probably underrated a little bit?
She’s only underrated by people outside our footy club. She has been fantastic for us, she should be spoken about in All-Australian contention as a key back. Out of eight games we’ve played she’s been beaten once in that time. We continue to throw those jobs at Soph and she does her homework and studies her opposition and that’s clearly why she’s getting the job done on the weekend.
Dana Hooker seem to have a revitalized performance with 20 touches and sat in the forward line for most of the game. How have you been managing her?
She hasn’t played defence at all this year. She’s played forward for us in the last three weeks and she’s really added that speed element, that chase down tackle pressure with Westy (Mikayla Western). We thought she started the game really well today and in the second half we threw her in the midfield and I thought it was her best game of the year tonight. She’s a very good player for us and one we can change roles on gameday and get the best out of her.
How is Mikayla Western’s arm looking?
She was pretty happy downstairs before on the green whistle. But that tackle is just what she does for us in our front half. I’ve just spoken to about her chase down tackles and she does one of those a week. Unfortunately I haven’t actually seen yet what it is but it looked like an elbow. She’s off in an ambulance to go to hospital to get assessed so hopefully she is okay.
Any other injuries?
No other than that we are okay.