How do you sum that up?
We’ll take the win and we move on. I thought Hawthorn played with plenty of spirit and at times really troubled us with their field position. But overall I probably thought we had more bang for buck when we went forward. Some of our talent shone through as well with Nic (Naitanui) having another reasonably good game. Our forward looked really dangerous and our backs held us up pretty well for the most part, although I reckon we conceded some fairly basic goals, but that’s taking a bit away from Hawthorn’s (game); they played with real spirit.
The cameras kept flashing to you and you looked agitated.
It’s just the goals or the plays where the predictability breaks down, they frustrate sometimes. I’ve been hiding it really well for seven years, so I’m assuming today there were a couple of instances where perhaps I didn’t hide it too well. It’s frustrating and every coach goes through it.
Adam, Jack Redden was getting a lot of work done on his left leg. Is that the quad again?
No, it’s a bit of an adductor. We’ve got a few injuries. Elliot Yeo looks like he’s going to be out for a few weeks with a groin issue, Nathan Vardy had an issue today in the scrimmage and might be out for most of the season, obviously Waterman (hand) and Duggan (hamstring) too. I think we had seven or six players available for the scrimmage today against the Hawks and we’ve got a pretty compressed fixture coming up, so we’ve got to everything we can to stay on the right path.
What has Vardy done?
It’s a cork that just bled really bad. Compartment syndrome. He’s in the hospital at the moment.
Are you aware of the severity of Jack (Redden’s) injury?
No, not major.
And Liam Duggan’s hammy?
He’ll play next week. We’ve got a few guys coming (back). Hutchings will be available and Duggan. At the moment we’ve had a bad run.
Are you worried with what’s coming up?
Well, at the moment all we can worry about is next week and we’ve got the Giants. We get to play in front of our crowd again which, once again, we have really appreciated. We miss them when we travel. We’ve got to take on the Giants and then we’ll worry about that compressed fixture and all that’s in front of us later on.
Just on Liam Ryan today, those three big marks…
It was great. He’s been a little bit off. Obviously he had some issues that he’s been dealing with personally and hamstring tightness. But when the love of the game is there for him you can see it. We are doing everything we can to make him feel good during the week and paying him a bit deeper tonight made him feel good. It was good that he got rewarded with some goals and hopefully he pulls up well for next week.
(Tom) Barrass and (Jeremy) McGovern down back, they seemed like such a commanding duo.
We needed them today. The field position issue in the first half was really concerning. We couldn’t get it out of our back half and I think Hawthorn are the best in the competition at defending deep entries. A, conceding those deep entries and B, not being able to get out of our back half was a real concern, but the ability to manage the scoreboard and I think not only those two but the other yong defenders coming through stood up when they needed to.
Adam, you had Yeo as a late withdrawal. How do you replace them?
Yeo and Redden in the second half, it just provides opportunities for others. We’re a system-0based side, but we’ve just got some bloody good players playing in that system, so we’ll just have to get some guys to come in and play that role.
How did Yeo do (his adductor injury) Adam?
He was a little bit tight last week and we didn’t really know how he would recover so we gave him until today. It might be an Osteitis (Pubis) type of issue. We were sort of hoping it wasn’t, but he just hasn’t pulled up well. He might be out for a few weeks, which might mean five games.
Back on Vardy, that seems like quite a serious injury. Is he going to be okay? How long is he going to have to stay in hospital?
I don’t know. It was the scrimmage this morning. It was a cork and we managed him in the back half of that scrimmage and now it’s a serious issue and we’re hoping he’s okay.
You mentioned managing the scoreboard, how much is it a luxury to have that potent forward line and putting three goals on them in six minutes after half-time? Everything they did from there was almost repairing that damage as opposed to closing the gap.
Yep, you’re spot on. The ability of our players to go to another level, we need that. We need to start with it and finish with it, but I’m not sure we can get to that level all the time. That’s our expectation and our desire. The identity of our side is pretty solid. It’s taken us a while to get to where we want to be, but our work’s not done. I don’t think we had a perfect game today. I think Hawthorn played with plenty of spirit and defended pretty well. Perhaps we took our opportunities more than they did.
It was a special moment when (Jack) Darling was going to have a gimme goal and handed it off to (Nic Reid).
It was really selfless from Darling to do that. I’m not sure if I really wanted that to happen, but for him to kick the goal (was great). I thought ‘Reidy’ put on some really good pressure throughout the night. It’s great when a forward debuts because if they have any impact in the front half everyone gets involved. I was really pleased he got his first game under his belt. He ran out of legs in the last quarter, but there’s something there, isn’t there? We think a mature-aged body; we’re light on for high half forwards at the moment and with (Willie) Rioli and (Daniel) Venables not being available and (Jamaine) Jones, he’s out for the season as well, we need these guys to step up and play their role.
Sheppard hitting the scoreboard too…
I’m not going to hear the end of that. He’s nominating himself for Goal of the Year last week, so I’m not quite sure that’s going to happen this week. I gave him no chance to kick that goal. I thought the pressure would get to him, so he proved me wrong.
Adam, you’re not in a bad spot at the moment with seven (wins) in a row and (in) the top four. Your percentage, it cost you last year with a top four spot and it’s not too bad this year. Is it something you can do something about?
We just want to win. Getting some games where you get some good wins is great, but it feels like because the scores are lower percentage is easy to elevate and drop. Having a blowout game like we did in the first three rounds after the break really hurt us and I think most of our wins have been around the 20-30-point marks. I don’t know what that’s like in a normal season, but we’ll take it, that’s for sure.
How important is Jamie Cripps? H’s hit the scoreboard the past four weeks in a row now after being a bit quiet earlier in the season.
He plays an important role, so we don’t judge him on the scoreboard. We need him to hit the scoreboard, but it’s a bonus. What he does off the ball (is important). The high half forward role is almost the hardest in the comp now. A lot of them are playing specific roles. They’re trying to get on the end of it but trying to help out attack, defence, stoppages and dealing with an extra – all those things that Crippa has been doing for a few years. He’s one of the best at it I would have thought.
