COACH POST MATCH – TODD CURLEY ROUND 3

SOUTH Fremantle coach Todd Curley offered his thoughts on his team’s WAFL Round 3 win against Claremont on Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval as the Bulldogs remain unbeaten to start 2020 ahead of this Saturday’s clash with Subiaco at Leederville Oval.

QUESTION: It wasn’t the prettiest game once again, but you come away with the four points against a team that was also undefeated and you were in control for most of it?
ANSWER: It was a challenge. Obviously they had been going pretty well and there was a lot of numbers behind the ball which makes it a challenge for us. But again I thought we missed some pretty easy chances early to get away, and then gave up a couple of soft ones the other way. Then late we did miss a couple of shots including one on three quarter-time where we just have to be better. But we found a way to win and we move on.

Q: Are you learning and developing ways to get around opposition teams trying to clog the game up and make it hard for you to play the way you want to play?
A: The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a challenge and with so many players around the ball, and sort of behind the ball it makes it a bit of a scrap. Unfortunately it’s certainly not pretty or attractive. But we did probably have some chances at some good, open play that we didn’t make the most of and we just have to keep practicing to get better at that.

Q: You say it’s not attractive to watch, do you get the chance to actually realise that when you are coaching the game and do you then actively try to do something to make it a bit better to watch?
A: At the end of the day it’s a win-loss game and we just want to win. You don’t really think too much about what the game is like when it’s going on other than you are trying to hopefully do some stuff to make it more on your terms. If that means scoring then so be it, but I don’t think either team got to any great heights today. But you can only do what you can do.

Q: Claremont always make themselves tough to beat so from that point of view are you happy to overcome what they threw at you and really be on top most of the game?
A: We certainly felt like we were on top for the most part. We made a couple of silly errors in the last quarter which made it a lot closer than it should have been, but we were pleased with a lot of it aside from that. And as I said to the players after the game, the good thing was that we certainly didn’t play great today and we feel as though there’s a lot more growth in us and that we can still get better. To still win is obviously a bonus and you are always working, you are never content and always want to get better. That’s where we’re at.

Q: What did you like about what you saw in the performance?
A: We lost Chris Luff halfway through the first quarter and that was a significant challenge losing a player that early, but I thought our players really dug in and were able to cover the load. As I said to the boys, I think most of them at some time had some good patches but most of them also had some patches where they can be better. There’s definitely some positives and some areas for us to work on, and we get another opportunity to do that. We’ll work to get better at training and then hopefully roll out a bit better next week.

Q: It was hard to see Chris Luff go off injured and how frustrated he was after everything he’s been through to make it back. What do you know at this stage?
A: It has been a great story for him to get back but really the main reason for him to come back whether he played one game or for the rest of the season or a couple of seasons was that it was a chance for him to go out on his terms. So for him to fight back and get back into the team and play some pretty good footy has been huge. He rolled his ankle and I was told he couldn’t come back on so that’s all I really knew about it, but fingers crossed it’s not too bad.

Q: Next week now, what are your thoughts on playing Subiaco?
A: They’ve only played a couple of games but we’ll have a good look at them and how they are trying to play, and then come up with a plan to try and beat them.

Q: People from the outside can pump up the Grand Final rematch side of it, but do you mention that at all with the players given it was 10 months ago now?
A: I think the old come back out and get revenge for a Grand Final is crap to be honest. You are never going to get revenge for the Grand Final, that will burn for you and the games that I played in, you could never make up for that. It’s a new season, a new game and we are just focused on this year. We can’t do anything about this year but we can do something about this year. It will be a forward focus.

Q: Regardless of the opponent, if you can go to 4-0 with a win you are already a significant way to locking in a finals spot?
A: We are focused on trying to win six as quick as we can. If that means we go to four this week that will be fantastic. It’s hard to believe but after the game we’ll be halfway through our season and to have four in the bank already would be great. It would be another step towards the target of six, but we aren’t taking anything for granted that’s for sure.