Todd Curley Q and A – Round 22

SOUTH Fremantle coach Todd Curley’s weekly question and answer session during the 2015 McDonald’s WAFL Premiership season.

Curley spoke following Saturday’s loss to West Perth in the final home game of the season and looks ahead to the last game of 2015 this Saturday against Peel Thunder in Mandurah.

QUESTION: Similar story again where you were in a good position early in the last quarter, but a side with a bit more experience and finishing ability were able to finish over the top?
ANSWER: We conceded the last four goals and we were a bit tired towards the end, and didn’t take our chances. We made a few skill errors during the day, but we generally tried to play how we’ve been wanting to and there was a lot to like. We had six guys under 10 games and 10 or 12 who have played less than 30, so it was a young team and a lot more to like this week.

Q: Was that your season summed up in a nutshell where you had your chances, but just came up short against a top team?
A: I guess this week a lot of the things that let us down were skill-related, and we can fix that and work hard on it, and get better at it. A few times we looked like we were going to get through and score, but we messed it up. And a few times we looked like we were going to defend better, but a few of our turnovers were almost undefendable. I’m a lot more positive this week than after some of our other losses. There was still a lot to like and a lot of young players out there showed they will be very good players for us, and some of our leaders stood up. We couldn’t sustain it but that can happen with young group.

Q: Do you take more positives out of it considering you could be so competitive against a team that will play finals, and probably finish second?
A: It’s probably been the story for the last three weeks really. The Subi game we were right in it with 15 minutes to go and then ran out of legs. Same last week against Peel when we got to within a couple of points and then conceded the last few goals, and then the same this week against West Perth. We certainly don’t want that to become a trend and we aren’t satisfied, but there were some passages of play with the ball and things that happened when we didn’t have it that we’ve been working on, and they were some of the things we really liked.

Q: Probably the most time Jacob Dragovich has spent in the midfield this season and as a result he probably played his best game?
A: He’s been a little midfield probably the last month and we’ve been really conscious of exposing the young guys in there. We don’t just want them to come in and play around the fringes, we want to put them in there. Callum Ah Chee had some time in the middle and on the wing, Kade Stewart in his first game had 10 tackles and Matty Ah Siu played on a wing. I guess when we play the young guys we want to play them where they can have an impact, and where they’ve played most of their footy before. They certainly showed enough again to suggest they are going to be good players.

Q: Craig White’s last game at Fremantle Oval, did you use that at all as motivation before the game or even at three quarter-time?
A: We didn’t to be honest, but he’s had a fantastic career and we know at the end of the year he won’t be playing on. But for us it’s about being in the moment and trying to play the way we want to play. We spoke about it during the week when he told the group of his decision about how your career comes and goes pretty quick, and you have to make the most of it.

Q: Adam McIntosh has had the best year of his career and again this week he had to play as an undersized defender and did well. You will be looking for him to step up even more as a leader going forward?
A: He has played 66 games now but I don’t think he’s ever played a full season like he has this year. He has been one that’s really embraced what we want to do, and how we want to play from the moment I walked in. He can play tall, he can play small and he’s ultra-competitive. I think he has really grown this year as a player and a person, so we’ll be looking for him to finish off strongly and have a big pre-season looking to next year.

Q: One game to go now against Peel in Mandurah next Saturday. What do you try to get out of it?
A: We’re just trying to build and continue to improve. For us obviously finals is out of contention this year, but we are still looking to build and improve, and see young players and expose them to see who stands up and who doesn’t. Hopefully we’ll have a look at another couple this week.