How would you describe your response to last week?

It was probably the minimum we wanted to tonight, like we obviously didn't win and the score blowout, but we won the inside 50s. We were brave with the footy to a point where we got hurt on the turnover, but probably a little bit more of the identity we're trying to chase without being anywhere near satisfied. But our senior players stood up and played as well as they could. It's been a heavy week for the club. So I thought the intent was there, but we weren't good enough. And we fell down on the front half. So the Barrass movement lasted three goals and then we had to pull that. But we're going to keep looking at those things whilst we don't have our full complement.

Effort, defensive pressure, those sorts of things what was your expectation?

Yeah. Well, I mean, the bombers are a tough solid to play. But uncontested marks are a really big part of their game, not the whole part. But it's a strong part of their game and trying to deny them some of those marks was a challenge. But the first three quarters we did a reasonable job. And we couldn't stop it in the last. So yeah, I think most of the plays that we conceded probably come off our poor turnovers and just fundamentals which we can work on that because that if you bring effort and a bit of method around it, and then you can work on those things.

Putting Barrass up forward, are you trying to be different tonight to give them a different perspective?

No, I suppose different players in different positions. But now we sort of doubled down on what we're trying to do. So it's been hard to play in a way that we've been training in the off-season and pre-season and in the first four or five rounds. So we wanted to get back to that.

Oscar as captain tonight, what did you make of it?

Yeah, I think it's been a great, out of all the carnage we've been dealing with at the moment the leaders are really standing up for the club. And that's not just the captaincy, but Duggan and Barrass and Allen, Sheed coming back and Shannon coming back tonight, I think they're doing everything they can to support the players and the club. And it was a good step forward for Ozzy tonight to get that experience and play well. We probably look for him too much in the end. And, you know, some of our entries weren't great.

You put Elliot Yeo, straight back into the midfield, he played pretty well tonight.

Yeah, he played on ball and a bit of back. And you had a few, you know, questionable kicks. But overall, it's good to have him back we gave him an extra week or so to get back. So we didn't have to manage him as much as we probably wouldn't have passed. So he looked like covered the ground a little bit better than the last few times. We brought him back so that he got through. So that's a positive and he'll only get better and it just shows you when you get players like that back in. You're going to look a bit different. So I don't think we get anyone back next week. But we get maybe Shuey, McGovern and perhaps Darling in the next week after maybe so you know, hopefully some of those guys will help us.

Yeo in the midfield, was that more circumstance or are you hoping when players come back in he'll go to half back?

He's a best and fairest winner All Australian midfielder. So I think playing him down back he also was All Australian as well. I think we forget how good he is. So he'll play wherever he needs to, on ball is probably his best best spot. And the game is built for people like Yeo at the moment and Shuey. So I know they get into the back end of their careers, but there's still some footy left there if we can get them right.

Can you quantify a figure on what they're worth?

Look, we're obviously it's tough going at the moment. So we've sort of got some players that aren't quite ready to play AFL who are playing and that's a challenge for them. And we've got to be careful not to criticise them too much, because they're still learning. But we need our senior players. So I've said this a lot, but what we're trying to work through and rebuild. We need our best players available to work on that. So if we had those ten players we were missing last week, then the kids might look a bit better and we might get a bit more development at WAFL Eagles and it all connects so whilst they're not playing it's a challenge but we haven't been anywhere near good enough. For the last month in particular, and today was minimum, and we still lost both 50 odd points. So we're not high fiving and change rooms, but we need to stay resilient. So they're all part of that.

Adam, getting those three players back, did that give you the confidence to swing Barrass forward because you haven’t been able to move anyone lately.

We're a bit light on with the front half at the moment. So that and that's just reality. So you know, the criticism that Darling got a few weeks ago, we desperately need him in the side. So I hope everyone pulls up on that one. Trying Barrass, he's begging to play forward at the moment and he kicked five in the captain's run yesterday. So I was pretty keen to do it. But I think Essendon took four or five contested marks in the first quarter, they jumped us a little bit. It felt like we needed him back. And as much as I still want to try it. I think we can do it at some stage in particular when Gov comes back. So your what's this space, I suppose, but just three goals in a row felt like we needed to put him back and we threw around young Bazzo unfairly. You know, once he played five or six games and he was foward, back so that was a bit harsh on him today.

Do you feel like you had any key moments?

Well, we haven't had any moments recently. So it's good to have moments that we missed. Our set shots tonight probably cost us a little bit I think going into three quarter time the shots might have been pretty close one or two down and then the last quarter blow out a little bit. So yeah, where we're at the moment, we've got to convert, we need to make the most of our opportunities. So getting shots in good spots is important as well, a few of them were pretty hard but there's some gettable ones there and Essendon had gettable ones as well. So lets not live in that land. But we realise we've got to convert.

We've just had a chat to Brad Scott and he was talking about the injuries you've got at the moment and he was saying even the games greatest coaches couldn't be much better. What’s it like to hear that?

It's just reality. And I know you guys are up and about, especially the local paper. But that doesn't excuse some of the games we played in recently. So we're not going to cop that as an excuse. But yeah, we will look different if we had those players back, obviously. And we need the leadership to help support the younger players coming through that's really obvious. We're on a journey and a pathway which I keep telling everyone that is going to be hard. So as much as we're copping some criticism that won't change my resolve or the club's resolve.

What’s it like hearing those words of support?

I appreciate it, I don't know what he said. But there's a little bit more understanding, I suppose in the coaching fraternity, with what we're dealing with at the moment, you know, it's a challenging industry and when you've won one game, it can get to you, but now I'm holding up okay.

Have you had much support from other coaches?

I don't think there's a WhatsApp group for all the coaches that gives a bit of love. But I think there's respect for all of us. You know, it's a tough gig, but we sign up for it's not like we made to do this job. So let's just pull back on the loving a little bit, and we just got to deal with it. So it's not it's not phasing me too much, to be honest. But I do appreciate the support from our fans and our members and obviously coaches if they say those things, it's appreciated.

You mentioned it was a heavy week for the club? What did you say to them about their results?

They're really keen to play at their best. So they understand it was unacceptable last week. But we're all in it together. So we spoke pre-game about the belonging piece and how we're all connected and we all need to get through this together so that you know, as much as there's people trying to separate us, we're pretty tight as a club.

You brought three experienced players back tonight, you mentioned three or four more that could come back over the next few weeks. When you bring three or four in is it difficult to manage their playing time and how you use them?

Yeah. Well, that's the challenge we had last two years, two and a half years is we've got lots of players coming back from injury and how you manage that with their fitness management, the games got harder and our guys who got older. So how do we do all that is a challenge, but it's just it is what it is. I'm not overthinking it, we'll get him back and hopefully like they'll gel in the next month and we can we can win some games and footy in the in the back half of the year and get some development of some of these kids.

Have you made any decisions on mid season draft?

Jamaine Jones goes in for surgery on Monday. So we'll see how he how he comes out of that and that's whether we get the second pick or not. So we'll work on how he pulls up outside of him. There's I don't think anyone else we've ruled out for the year because you got to understand these guys who got long term injuries. They don't want to be written off just yet. You know, some of our guys, round 17, 18 we're looking to get him back and I think it's important they keep chasing that and not right off the year. So we'll make a decision on JJ on Tuesday.