Coach Post Match – Todd Curley Round 3

WHAT South Fremantle coach Todd Curley had to say following the Round 3 come from behind victory against West Perth at HBF Arena.

South Fremantle began the season with a 58-point loss to Subiaco at Fremantle Community Bank Oval. The Bulldogs then fell 24 points early against West Perth on Sunday at HBF Arena, but Curley was pleased with the response to come away with the eight-point victory.

South Fremantle now plays in the ANZAC Derby this Sunday against East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval.

QUESTION: It wasn’t the start you were after coming off the loss last, but you would have been really happy with the response?
ANSWER: We were obviously really disappointed with how we finished off last week and then disappointed with how we started this week. They certainly came out and were intense and moved the ball quick. They were pretty good in the first quarter but our response was pretty good. It was pretty hot, we lost Jarrod Parry early so there wasn’t much left in the tank, but the boys were pretty good.

Q: Did you put it on the group at quarter-time to respond after not the opening five quarters of the season you would have been hoping for?
A: I didn’t really have to challenge them that much, walking out there at quarter-time they were already saying all the things that they needed to do. We just needed to close up and defend a bit better as a team than we did in the first quarter. We started to use the ball a bit better too.

Q: The good thing about having experienced leaders in the group like Suban, Cook, Hams, Schloithe and they all did that?
A: Especially late I think their experience and voice was pretty important as well. It doesn’t matter whether you win by one or 100, they still only give you four points and wins early in the year are really important. It was important to bounce back and get our first points on the board.

Q: It was goal for goal for a while there in the third quarter, were you always confident you could finish strongly?
A: It was goal for goal, but I think after quarter-time it was 14 goals to eight so I felt like we had the game in our hands for most of the time. We did give up a couple of goals here and there in quick passages from errors, but overall we were reasonably happy.

Q: Disappointing for Jarrod Parry obviously, he just can't take a trick?
A: He was unlucky. I think he had only been on the ground for a couple of minutes in the first rotation of the first quarter. He tried to shuffle around for us for a little while, but clearly we don’t want him to continue to do that if it's going to risk a long-term injury. We tapped him out and it was a similar discussion with Tom Vandeleur at three quarter-time. If you think you can go, the keep going but if there is any risk of making it worse then come out. But I thought he was important and took a couple of catches late. When you are playing in hot conditions in a tight game, it was important to not lose two of our rotations.

Q: Noah Strom had a good battle with Tyler Keitel, how good will that be for his development?
A: It's funny, I think he played on him a fair bit in colts and underage footy. He has had to wait a long time to get his chance and his first couple have been pretty good. Certainly you learn a lot from those close, hard games that turn into a grind. I'm sure he played a lot more minutes at high intensity than he's used to at reserves level, so I'm sure he slept well after the game.

Q: Your depth is good with players in good reserves form and McIntosh, Zac Strom and Cory Dell'Olio to be back soon?
A: It's important because you need more than 22 to get through the year. Obviously we've lost Jarrod Parry, Zac has been crook, Brendan Verrier has been sore so he hasn’t played well. But we are really happy with the kids coming through and hopefully they will play really well to put pressure on our senior guys and maybe even push a couple of them out.

Q: Derby now on Sunday, they are always big games and now you throw in the occasion of it being to commemorate Anzac Day too?
A: It doesn’t matter where the teams are, it's always a big game. They've had a pretty good start to the year so we'll need to recover well after playing in hot conditions. We'll see who's available, train and we've still got a lot of things to work on which is good. We'll certainly roll out and hopefully put our best foot forward.