How are you feeling at the moment, against a lot of odds that was a massive effort?

“I thought the Bulldogs outplayed us for almost all night, so we were lucky to be in it. The numbers don’t look great, I think we lost ‘Hutch’ (Mark Hutchings) pretty early. We were pretty brave but we didn’t get it done. We had opportunities and we missed them. Close game, we need to move on pretty quick, we’ve got a four-day break into the Saints. I don’t know how much we’ll review but we probably need to look at our supply. In the last couple of weeks we’ve lost inside 50s. I don’t know what they were tonight, but they were 20-something to 40-something, and lucky in the first quarter with efficiency and the second quarter was the quarter that really cost us. We were lucky not to be three or four goals down. Then I thought we showed a bit of resilience in the second half. It would have been a bloody dirty game to watch. It was close though, so it would have been entertaining.”

You’re down on personnel, particularly in midfield where you need to get the ball inside 50?

“Yeah, we’ll look at that. Personnel, we play to a system and obviously there’s different players in at the moment. Liam Duggan in the second half as a midfielder looked good, (Brayden) Ainsworth did a job on (Caleb) Daniel in the second half, so we were pretty happy with that. Jakey Waterman played on a wing, Jetta went back, we don’t often do that so to go to those things and be competitive we’re proud of, but you’re right we’re not going to get back those two boys (Luke Shuey and Elliot Yeo) soon. Every club has got injuries so we’ve got use our depth. We almost won it tonight but we didn’t so we’ll lick our wounds and get on with the Saints in a few days.”

When did you make the decision Nic (Naitanui) wouldn’t play?

“It was touch and go. He’s just a bit sorer than what he’s been the last few weeks and we’ve got five games in 19 days, so it would have been reckless to play him in every game. The moment we thought he’s a bit tight we thought that was a cue to give him a spell. I think he’s feeling pretty good – good enough to play next week that’s for sure.”

In terms of territory, they just had inside 50 after inside 50 and you couldn’t get the ball down there (in attack)?

“No, we couldn’t, and we need to look at why. Field position is a big thing. In a shortened game everyone’s got energy to defend and that’s probably partly why games get a bit scrappy, there’s just never any moments in the game you see a team that is really off with the way they defend. We need to look at that, I think the Bulldogs just worked a bit harder at contest. We kicked the ball down the line or to a contest and they’d be the first one or two players there. If it’s just workrate, we understand that a little bit, but if it’s more about system we need to dig a bit deeper. We’ll look at that, we’ll get a few players back next week and go from there.”

Right at the end Darling had a chance, what were you thinking when he had the ball in his hands?

“Pretty confident. I’m sure he was too. Obviously you don’t pin it all on one kick. I was a bit more worried about Tommy Cole’s set shot and he went back and slotted it. We were pretty efficient all night but we probably missed three or four shots that we normally kick, but the Bulldogs missed probably three times more than what we did in terms of ‘geez, that’s a gettable goal’. Then ‘Bont’ (Marcus Bontempelli) kicked that last one to put them in front, so swings and roundabouts.”

How bad do you think Hutchings (hamstring) is and whether (Jeremy) McGovern has actually hurt himself again?

“Hutch couldn’t come back on so I suspect he won’t be playing for a while. Gov did come back on. We’ll have to get a scan and see how it is. I think it’s the same thumb. There was decisions to make seven or eight weeks ago when he did it what we should do. Hopefully it’s not too bad, but it’s just a really awkward position underneath the fingernail. You’ve just got to get it flicked to hurt it. It’s his ball drop hand, his spoiling and his handballing. It’s hard to play without a thumb. I don’t think you can numb it. He’s played with so much pain and resilience over the years, if anyone can he can.”

Are you worried about dropping out of the top four?

“We’re worried about dropping out of the eight. We need to qualify for finals and I’ve said that from the beginning. Top four is not our goal, we still want to secure our position in the eight. It’s getting tight, so massive game in a few days.”

Did Elliot Yeo train today?

“Not sure, he would have done a bit of walk/jog. We’re aiming hopefully for a bit of minutes at North (in round 18) but that’s a 50-50 call. We won’t rush him, but we need him.”

Do you think the disparity in the break between games for the two sides had any bearing?

“It’s a good question. I thought we looked really tired in the second quarter but we finished off the game pretty well in terms of competitiveness and run, even being one (player) down. We’ve done a really good job at trying to get the boys up every week, our strength and conditioning guys, and our players have learnt so much about resilience and how to prepare off a small break. We’re no different to anyone else, but I feel like across the League players have realised how resilient they can be mentally, but there’s a tipping point. Every club is going through what we are, like I said, but we’re probably not build to play this much football in such a short time. That’s just the way it is at the moment, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”