Coach Post Match – Todd Curley Round 14

WHAT South Fremantle coach Todd Curley had to say following the Round 14 WAFL victory against West Perth at HBF Arena with some emerging players standing tall and the forward-line on fire. He also takes a look forward to this Saturday's clash with East Perth at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

QUESTION: You know it was going to be tough against an in-form team but to dominate after half-time must have been pleasing to see?
ANSWER: They've been in really good form and put really good pressure on. It was a pretty tight first half but I thought our pressure after quarter-time lifted a bit and we were able to get some pressure on the ball, and then the game opened up a bit in the second half. It certainly helps when you've got some key forwards who kick 10 between them and were pretty dominant with help from the small forwards. We were able to give them some good supply as well.

Q: The pressure you put on them out of their back-line caused a lot of turnovers that you were able to directly score goals from?
A: I think most teams want to win it in the middle and play the game in your half where you can. We used the ball probably a bit better where when we didn’t grab it and give ourselves a direct chance to score, we still were able to defend it a bit better with them trying to get it out. It was a bit out of control in the first quarter we thought especially our ball use going inside-50 but we thought it got better after that.

Q: To be that dominant after half-time against a team that had won seven in-a-row must make it one of the most pleasing wins of the year?
A: We obviously were lucky in the first seven or eight weeks in terms of having all our personnel available, but everyone goes through it. We certainly don’t look at who's out and make excuses. We are working pretty hard to make sure that if we play our way that it doesn’t matter who is in, they can play our role. They were pretty good obviously this week.

Q: With Ashton Hams out and Tim Kelly tagged pretty closely, other guys had to stand up in the midfield and Dragovich and Stewart did in particular?
A: It's obviously a challenge but that presents opportunities. We thought Timmy Stewart's first half was enormous and he probably kept us in the game at times. Hocks' second half was strong and we think we've got a bit of flexibility through there. Hopefully we get Ash back pretty soon and Brendan Verrier has played a couple back in the twos now so he's back in contention. Schloithey we're not sure about, maybe a couple of weeks, and we just have to deal with who's available. I thought our young blokes in the first half were pretty good. Donaldson showed good signs, Steve Edwards continued his really good season as a small forward. Dragovich had clearly his best game of the year as well so there were a lot of positives.

Q: Tim Kelly would have learned a lot from having to cope with a tight tag for the first time in his career?
A: We knew that Munns would go to him. He had a really good first half up here against them last year and they sat on him then. It's a sign that you are playing pretty good footy if they send someone to you. To his credit he never threw in the towel and I thought this pressure was good and he was still able to contribute through some of his selfless efforts. He will learn from it but I thought he still contributed really well.

Q: Ben Saunders had a good battle with Luke Meadows but he grabbed his chances to kick six. Then Mason Shaw booted four as well and Brandon Donaldson, and Blaine Johnson added two each so the forward-line worked well?
A: It's good for Donaldson to come in and play in a pressurised game like that. His composure and use of the ball is obviously his strength, and he obviously knows where to go but I thought his physicality and pressure was really good too. I thought he had a really good impact defensively as well. It was a really great effort by Saundo. He took all his chances playing on a state half-back. He was really important for us.

Q: I know you don’t want to look too far ahead, but yourselves and Subiaco have now put a bit of a game on the rest of the pack now in the top two spots?
A: We don't but we have been quite open about trying to win 12 games as quick as we can and once we do that we're pretty confident we'll qualify for finals. From there you can reassess your goals. We're not there yet but we are pretty keen to get there as quickly as we can which has been our goal. Touchwood we've been pretty good for most of the year in maintaining the focus on the week ahead. We got ambushed a couple of weeks ago in a derby but the players have been pretty self-driven to make sure we prepare well since then.

Q: Back home this Saturday against an East Perth team that will have a lot of quality from West Coast and needs to win to stay in the finals race?
A: It will be a good test and they are all tough games. We've probably been at our best when we have concentrated on making sure we get our own backyard right. That will be our aim. We know that if we play our brand it's really competitive and we will be in the game. That's the aim and if we do that it will be a close contest at least.