Coach Post Match – Todd Curley Round 2

WHAT South Fremantle coach Todd Curley had to say following the Bulldogs’ season-opening loss to Subiaco in Round 2 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Following the Round 1 bye to open the 2018 WAFL season, South Fremantle hosted a Subiaco team who has made the past four Grand Finals with the Lions taking out the 18.12 (120) to 9.8 (62) victory.

South Fremantle will play West Perth in Round 3 at HBF Arena on Sunday.

QUESTION: What are your first reactions to that Todd?
ANSWER: It was certainly a disappointing last 40 minutes of the game. At the 25-minute mark of the third quarter the margin was only two goals but we made a couple of really poor decisions with the ball that cost us and after that we really fell away. It was disappointing.

Q: Halfway through the second quarter you had all the momentum but couldn’t quite maintain it. But even late in the third you were still in the game. Then some turnovers can be costly against a clinical team like that and then heads can start to drop?
A: Yeah maybe. I think we had a lot of guys that were down and the ones who were up and going, there was way too few. Maybe they got tired towards the end of the third, I’m not too sure. It’s disappointing but it’s one game and we get another opportunity next week. We just have to take a look at the tape, review some stuff and keep working to get better and look forward to being positive next week.

Q: Is it good to get an early indication of where the benchmark is?
A: They were clearly good and much better than us. The frustration I guess comes from the way we really fell away. We certainly weren’t perfect and were rusty with it being our first game and we blew some opportunities early to be a bit closer or even in front on the scoreboard. Then once they got up and going we really didn’t fight back too hard.

Q: It might sound funny when a team kicks 18 goals and wins by 58 points, but your defence stood up reasonably and even Steve Verrier was pretty good for most of the day despite having five goals kicked on him?
A: I thought certainly Noah was pretty good in his first game. Chaddy Pearson was pretty good so it was the two young guys who were our best defenders to be honest. Stevie fought on pretty hard and he was similar to the team, he was really good for the first three quarters and then whether it was weight of numbers or what, he conceded some scores. You can’t win with that few contributors through.

Q: You would have been happy especially with the performances of Noah Strom and Chad Pearson?
A: Yeah certainly. We think we have quite a good group of emerging players who have probably played a bit of league footy and got a taste. You throw in Florenca, Donaldson, Russell and Solomon, and then guys like Dent and Collard who look like they can play. We think we have a few who can come in and put pressure on some of the established guys who if they don’t perform, we’ll reward good performances at the lower level. It was certainly pleasing for Noah. He’s had to wait a long time and unfortunately his big brother was way too sick to play so they didn’t get the opportunity to play together. But I thought on a pretty good player for most of the day, he was really sound. And Brock Higgins was fantastic. But apart from those games, we really didn’t have a four-quarter contributor I don’t think.

Q: It was a great reward for Jarrod Parry to get to play his first league game since Round 2, 2015?
A: And he is a fantastic person. He has shown amazing resilience really to keep coming back and be willing to do the work, the rehab and all that prep to play. He got back and had a couple of cracks at it last year with no pre-season and he was able to get through a pre-season this year. It was fantastic for him to get to play and he’s a really popular member of our group.

Q: You go through a long pre-season that can drag on and then all of a sudden you have one game, and have plenty to work on?
A: Yeah but once you’ve been around it for a fair while, it’s pretty clear it’s never as good as you think it is and never as bad as you think it is. You’re never going as well as you think and it’s never as bad as you think. Over the journey we’ve been pretty good and pretty consistent, and so have our players. I have no doubt that they will bounce back.

Q: You’ve done well against West Perth in your time with South Fremantle, you’ll be hoping that continues next Sunday?
A: We’ll have to be a lot better and have a lot more contributors and be a lot more consistent to compete up there. It’s a hard ground to go and play at, they have a lot of good support. But we’ll lick our wounds, get going again and improve, and get ready for next week.