Coach Post Match – Todd Curley Round 19

WHAT South Fremantle coach Todd Curley had to say following the 47-point Round 19 WAFL victory against West Perth at Fremantle Community Bank Oval that was the Bulldogs' sixth straight win this season and sixth consecutive against the Falcons.

QUESTION: Another pretty solid four-quarter performance against a team that's in the finals mix?
ANSWER: Yeah I thought we were pretty good over the four quarters. We probably had a couple of little lapses here and there, and we still have some work to do on some of our defensive stuff. We were a bit disappointed to let them get a couple of goals too easily. But we still kicked 20 goals and were pretty even.

Q: It didn’t seem like there was too much in the game except you making the most of your chances up forward?
A: A lot of our shots were in quite deep and close to goal as well so we got it into the right positions in those conditions and were able to put them under pressure. It's a really good result and we'll move forward from it.

Q: Two weeks in-a-row where you have started well, are you confident those slow starts are behind you?
A: There were different reasons for a couple of them though. But there continues to be things to continue to learn. They came out at us quite physical from the first bounce and we stood up to that, and got to work winning the footy and putting the score on the board. We were really happy with that start.

Q: Through the middle Brock was a powerful presence in the ruck and Tim Kelly, Haiden Schloithe and Shane Hockey were all great again. When those four are playing well you'll be tough to stop?
A: The conditions were probably tailor made for Higgo but he was pretty good. We thought at times our mids were OK and at other times they were good, but I thought some of our work forward was pretty good especially. Parker was pretty good, Cory Dell was really good and we had lots of guys who stepped up at different times. There were a few guys quiet in the first half who stood up in the second half which was pleasing.

Q: Pretty exciting debut from Matthew Parker who has come to the club this year and played strong reserves football to get his chance?
A: It's a really good reward for him. It's his first year at the club, he's obviously had to work really hard and has been playing pretty consistent footy all year. He's been unlucky probably not to have got a look before this week, but he got his chance and did exactly what we expected really. He used his speed to put pressure on and took his chances so we were pleased.

Q: Josh Pullman had a tough first half of the year but his last month has seen him back to his defensive best and he got the honours well and truly against Tyler Keitel?
A: The conditions probably helped as well and it wasn’t a day for key forwards. None of our key forwards caught it too much and it was probably a day for the little blokes, but Josh's form in the second half of the year is back to where we have grown to expect from Josh the previous year.

Q: It's going to be tough for guys to break back into this team even though some of them include Ashton Hams, Brendan Verrier, Marlion Pickett and Jacob Dragovich?
A: You do need depth because you never know what's around the corner. Dragovich will probably be ready next week, Brendan Verrier will be ready next week, Chris Luff should play some footy next week, Jarrod Parry will play next week and Ashton might. The other one that was really pleasing was that Josh Branchi played a half in the reserves and had a beaming smile on his face after 12 months out with a knee reco. That was really good.

Q: Chris Luff is an interesting one. He copped a knock back in Round 13 and still hasn’t made it back?
A: He got a fairly big sling tackle that knocked him around a bit. He had a few weeks off and then has been trying to get some continuity to get back. But he's had a good last couple of weeks and we've been lucky to not have to rush him back and he'll be ready for next week.

Q: Last game home for the home and away season and it's a derby on Saturday, what are you expecting?
A: With derbies it never matters where you are on the ladder. They were really super against us the first time here in the first three quarters with their pressure and I know last time we played them they were stretched for injuries and had a lot of young players, but I think they've got a few senior guys since then and the younger players have been adjusting to the level. They've been more consistent over the past six weeks and it will be a good battle.

Q: Is it important not to take them lightly and to keep your good form going?
A: Our start against Perth wasn’t great but if you go through their games they have won a lot of first quarters so a lot of their opponents have been behind at quarter-time. But we showed good resilience to fight back and get back on top pretty quick. The benefit of that is the belief and resilience within the group. We were under the pump midway through the second quarter against Swans too but we really got to work and there wasn’t too many times this week when we were under scoreboard pressure. But the couple of times that they did come at us I thought we got the ascendancy back pretty quick which was good.