Was that your best win of the season, your best performance?

“I don’t know. Every game is different. We really, really rate Geelong. The way they play has troubled us in the past. They’ve touched us up plenty of times the last four or five times we’ve played them. We knew what kind of game was in front of us, just dealing with it and the way they play was always going to be a challenge. As the game went on we got more understanding of what we needed to do. We owned field position in the second half, we just couldn’t convert, they were just too good defensively. It would have been a good game to watch. It was a good game to be a part of.”

You had a lot of good players, your midfield was sound, Josh (Kennedy) kicked four, but the influence of Nic (Naitanui)?

“Nic was special, but we all know that don’t we. Geelong missing a ruckman helps us. We’e played a couple of sides this year dealing with some height issues, but Nic’s form all year has been first-class. He’s had a pretty good look at a pre-season and obviously with the disruption we all went through he’s got better every week. He delivered tonight but he’s been delivering for a long time.

Is he a bigger threat now than he has been?

“We’ve just missed him haven’t we, with his knees over the years. To get a full season so far has been great for everyone. He brings everyone into the game, including the crowd. The crowd was awesome today. We see it as a real advantage, the more games we play here the better. Him and the leadership with Luke Shuey and Josh Kennedy, but the young guys coming through are important as well. I feel like they feel like they are well and truly a part of the core of our side. It (the result) could have gone the other way and I would have been just as proud.”

Nic aside, what pleased you most about the win?

“Good resilience. We’ve come from, not a long way back, but we had a rough patch there for a few weeks. We’ve worked really hard with our leadership, our system, our brand, our identity. I feel like we’ve got through that phase, but halfway through the second quarter it wasn’t probably the way we wanted to play, so we’ve still got some work to do.”

You’ve got some growth from young players, Duggan has gone up a notch and was strong again tonight?

“Our backs in general have all stood up and there is a youth coming through with (Liam) Duggan, (Tom) Cole and (Jackson) SimpNelson, along with Harry (Edwards). It was probably our youngest side we’ve played for four or five years tonight. Keeping an eye on the growth and development of our squad is important and then our leaders have bought into our younger players. Tonight we’re in a good space, but the season is going up and down, up and down, so we realise there’s a bit of work to do still.”

The (Naitanui) hit to Josh (Kennedy) in the last quarter, was that a set play or is that something they would make up on the run?

"We did ask for our forwards to stay away from stoppages in our forward 50 to create a bit more space and we were worried about the defenders and then we saw that hit-out. It wasn’t a coaching move, but maybe there was a bit more space there. I think they organised it. They did it at training or something they said, so we’ll take it.”

In normal seasons you get an idea where you sit by about halfway through, what about this season with so much uncertainty?

“I’m not quite sure you do know during (a normal) season either (where you sit). I think you just try and win and get on with the next game. We don’t look at the fixture or the draw, we look at wins and losses and the next week. I think every club would be the same. We’ve always said we want to qualify for finals as quick as we can – I’m not even sure what that means now with a shorter season, but we’ve just got to keep winning and taking our opportunities. Tonight could have gone either way. We respect Geelong really, really highly. Very powerful brand and two pretty strong teams going against each other tonight. We’ll take this win and move on.”

Given you believe you will probably go back into a hub at some stage, do you drive into players to make hay while you’re here (in Perth)?

“No, not really, because we don’t know what is in front of us. We lost three in a row in Queensland – we got beaten by Gold Coast, Brisbane and Port – all really good sides and we weren’t playing at our best. We worked our way through a couple of things. I know people connect it to (being) unhappy or whatever, I just don’t think our brand of footy is what it is now. We’ve changed a bit and our leaders have stood up. What happens in the back end will be a completely different situation we’ll confront, but it will be a challenge. It is what it is I suppose and we’ll accept whatever is in front of us.”

Did you get through injury-free apart from Harry (Edwards’ concussion)?

“I think he took us off the ground. He was up and about. It’s an eight-day break, so hopefully he’ll be OK. He’s got a bit of a shiner above his eye. Other than that I think we were OK overall.”