Coach Post Match – Todd Curley NAIDOC Round

WHAT South Fremantle coach Todd Curley had to say following the Bulldogs' NAIDOC Round victory against Claremont at Claremont Oval to further consolidate second position in the WAFL.

QUESTION: Again a slow start but you would have been really pleased with the response after quarter-time?
ANSWER: Obviously we were pretty slow at the start but to their credit, they really came out and challenged us. We were pretty ill-disciplined early and gave away a heap of free-kicks and going five goals to one down was a bit disappointing. But even in the first quarter over the last 10 minutes I thought we started to get to work a bit. 

Q: You gave away five off the ball free kicks in the first quarter. They made it a real focus to try and rattle you, were you pleased you fixed that up after quarter-time?
A: It's just all about learning. We still have a fair few young guys in the team and they might have played a fair bit of footy, but deep down they are still young guys and will come up against new experiences every week. They got challenged a bit physically early and probably didn’t deal with it the right way. And a lot of the time it can be the guy who reacts that gets caught out. But it's another opportunity to learn and I think from the 20-minute mark of the first quarter we were OK in that regard.

Q: Your pressure you applied really lifted over the last three quarters as well and they struggled to deal with it, and you were able to set up a heap of goals on the back of forcing turnovers?
A: I thought we got to work inside and started to compete and win from the clearance a lot better, which allowed us to play in our half. But our pressure was really good and we started to lift in that area, which when we are playing well that is one of the hallmarks of our game. That was pleasing and I thought Schloithey in his 100th game really stood up for playing mid and also his ability to sneak forward and be dangerous wherever he was.

Q: It was a special performance in a milestone game to kick five goals for the first time in his career and have 27 possessions despite the attention he received?
A: It's a good learning for him. In the past he has probably let that niggle get to him but I don’t think he did. Even though he didn’t have a big impact on the game early on, I thought his discipline was pretty good and he stayed in the game. At the end of the day we had a pretty solid win and the last three quarters were super, and pretty dominant. I know Schloithey had 27 but we only had three guys with less than 11 and it was a pretty even performance.

Q: Some of that run from the back-line and through the middle, particularly from Marlion Pickett and Tim Kelly, is special to watch?
A: We have spoken about how it's not always going to be your day but you just have to keep playing your role. I thought Steven Edwards was super again and he has just become a really important player for us. He wins one-on-ones and is good with the ball. It was just a really even performance. Jake Florenca played well, so did Jacob Dragovich and Shaun Bewick. Some of their work was unheralded and our pressure forward certainly lifted which was pleasing.

Q: Shane Hockey is back to his best form too from last year after a bit of a slow first half this season?
A: We don’t want to make excuses for him, but he was really interrupted. He was injured, then he had to go home to miss a game and there were reasons for it. But he's started to get some continuity now and he was really important this week, especially in the second quarter to turn it around for us.

Q: First time against Swans this year was a disappointing loss, but Round 2 feels like a lifetime ago now. What are your thoughts on this Saturday's game? 
A: They are well coached and they seem to be really well planned, so that's what we expect. They have some really good senior players who lead well on the ground too. We just have to come to play and over the last couple of weeks we haven’t had great starts, but we are turning into a really strong and resilient group who believe that what we do is good enough if we stick to it. While the last two weeks our starts have been poor, the signs have been good that we've had things not go our way and then to turn it around you probably learn more from that.

Q: Do you expect Cory Dell'Olio back and who else is in the mix?
A: Dell should be available. Jarrod Garlett was super in the early game, Parry was very good and Parker was very good so we have some good depth. Donaldson played his first game back for a while after his knee, Kyle Russell came back in and was good, and we should get Jake Solomon back next week. She's pretty hot for spots and that's not always great for the players, but it's really good for the team and club so it's pleasing.