Coach Post Match – Todd Curley Round 19

WHAT South Fremantle coach Todd Curley had to say following the Round 19 WAFL victory over Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval and looking ahead to the final two weeks of the home and away season ahead of a third straight finals campaign.

QUESTION: That was hard work for a half but once you got going in the second half, you were able to come away with a pretty solid win?
ANSWER: It was the tale of the two halves probably. The first half wasn’t great and then the second half was really good. There’s some more stuff for us to learn and our second half was pretty good with a few challenges along the way with personnel. But we finished off really well and that was the positive.

Q: Your midfield again got on top and when you the likes of Hockey, Cook and Suban leading the way like that you aren’t going to get beaten in that area too often?
A: We were probably on top around the stoppages even early for the first half but just quick kicked a lot and gave it back to them. I thought we fixed that up at half-time and had some guys who were down in the first half that lifted. Some of our bigger guys had very little impact on the game in the first half but in the second half they were able to have an impact in the contest. That certainly helped us.

Q: Your small defenders like Steve Edwards, Jason Maskos and Kyle Russell are playing really well right now?
A: They certainly looked much better in the second half but I thought they hung in there. They were under a fair bit of pressure in the first half and we really didn’t get a lot of pressure on the ball which makes it pretty hard to defend. They hung in there and certainly had pretty solid performances in the second half.

Q: You obviously have had your challenges forward this year with losing Blaine Johnson and Ben Saunders being injured, and this wasn’t ideal timing for Matt Parker to get suspended. But you still found enough goals with Cory Dell’Olio leading the way?
A: He was the standout ton the scoreboard but I thought when Schloithe and Pickett went forward their movement really helped us. It’s always a challenge for everyone with personnel especially at this time of year but hopefully we get all those guys back in time. But we were happy with the group in the second half this week and it gave us another chance for a couple more debutants to have a look at, so that’s a positive as well.

Q: The young players you’ve been able to blood has been a great positive of this season and two more this week in Zac De San Miguel and Chris Ah Siu who didn’t look out place?
A: It’s fantastic and going forward we think we’ve got some real good young players that we’ve been able to expose a little bit. That just makes them hungrier and gives them a good idea of the difference between the reserves footy and senior footy. They certainly played their part and it was really pleasing. It was quite an even performance and we had Hockey and Suban the standouts inside, Dragovich was good inside in the second and Pearson down back as well. It was pleasing.

Q: With Saunders, Main and Parker to come back in, do you try to settle on your best 22 the next fortnight the best you can?
A: If they are available but we’ve also been pretty conscious that we need our best players available at the end of the year. Luckily our performances at this point mean that we’ve won enough games where we know we’re going to qualify and get a double chance. We’ve made the decision to be pretty conservative with Dylan, Saundo and all our guys that are a bit sore to be honest to make sure we get them right for the most important time of the year. That’s the main aim.

Q: I’m sure you and the players haven’t forgotten last time you played Perth where you lost a game from a winnable position, there’ll be no complacency on Saturday?
A: Really we are practicing to get it right for when it really does count in another three weeks’ time. They will be desperate but we should be too. We have some guys unavailable at the moment who will be becoming available and will put their hand up. The guys who are playing will be pretty keen to play well because you want to stay in the side.