Coach Post Match – Todd Curley Round 7

WHAT South Fremantle coach Todd Curley had to say following the Bulldogs' first loss of the 2016 WAFL season against Subiaco on Saturday and looking ahead to this Saturday's clash with Claremont at the Showground.

QUESTION: What did you take out of that game when you got back into it to be two points down in the last quarter after a slow start?
ANSWER: I think we won a bit more of our own ball after half-time. We got smashed in the contested ball in the first half and their pressure was pretty good. Our first half was pretty poor so the positive was that at half-time we thought we had a lot of growth in us. It was a good effort to get back within two points, but when you have to work that hard to get back into the game it takes a few tickets.

Q: It could have been different had you hit the lead but Subiaco kicked away again?
A: We know what they're about. They play consistently well and grind games out. They are a very well organised and an experienced team. They played four quarters and we couldn’t go with them. That's OK, we're obviously not at their level yet but we'll keep working hard to get there.

Q: First time this year you've had to change things around at half-time a little and pushing Ashton Hams to half-back and throwing Marlion Pickett forward both worked?
A: We haven’t changed much because it's been working, but there were some positives at half-time when we changed things around. There were some guys down in the first half who were pretty good in the second half, but against good teams you can't give them a half start and expect to win. We'll learn a lot from it and get another crack at them later in the year.

Q: You probably weren’t surprised with Ben Sokol's performance because you were aware what he's capable of, but you just didn’t seem to quite have the right match up for him at any point?
A: He is a really good one-on-one grab but to be honest it was probably less about the match up and more about the way it was coming in, especially early. Some of our turnovers and mistakes we made he got out the back and was able to catch a couple. Then once he got his confidence up he was a good player. It was pleasing for him, but I would say it was less about the match up and more about what was going on further up the ground.

Q: The turnovers did seem to hurt. Every time you coughed it up, Subiaco was clinical by taking it down their end and more often than not scoring directly from it?
A: They're a good team, that's what they do.

Q: There won't be too many games this year where Ben Saunders, Mason Shaw and Steve Edwards are all goalless?
A: To be honest, Saundo and Mase have been fantastic in all the games up until this one so they'll bounce back from one quiet game. Steven Edwards has been really good for us and again his pressure and effort especially after half-time was enormous. Our forwards really didn’t have much clean ball in the first half and we couldn’t get the score on the board, or any pressure on them. We'll work on the areas we need to and get a crack at them in Round 18 at Leederville.

Q: Claremont have some tall targets now next week, another test for Josh Pullman?
A: Even last week he wasn’t on Watson for all of his five goals, so there were a few others who put their hands up on the video in the review. But he's learning and he hasn’t played much down back before. He will keep learning and Shep did kick two on him before Josh came off. He is a competitor and he's been pretty good for us.

Q: Would Chris Luff be a chance to play his first game of the season?
A: He's played two games back now and he was really fit before he went away. So there's Luff we might look at and Brad McPhail might be another option. Vandeleur could play back too. We will sit down and have a look at it, and assess Claremont but if we don’t win the ball in the middle again we will be under the pump and the defenders won't be able to do much.

Q: Brock Higgins played his third game back in the reserves and looked good. He's probably available for selection for the first time this year?
A: He's getting close. He missed a heap of training but he's been able to get some good minutes with two full games in the reserves. We'll see how he's going.

Q: What challenges do Claremont present next week?
A: I haven’t had much of a look at them yet to be honest. They just lost to West Perth but their good is very good. They have some good targets down forward and some strong mids. We just need to get back on track and play on well.