Coach Post Match – Todd Curley Round 7

WHAT South Fremantle coach Todd Curley had to say following the Round 7 WAFL victory by 68 points at Leederville Oval over East Perth that was a fifth on the trot for the Bulldogs. 

QUESTION: You'd have to be pleased to come away with such a good win against a team who had been on a four-game winning run like you were?
ANSWER: I thought especially after quarter-time I thought we were pretty consistent for the rest of the game. There were a few things we needed to tinker with at quarter-time because we thought they had probably scored a bit too easy in the first quarter. We thought we fixed that up after quarter-time and were pleased.

Q: Brock Higgins backed up his State game performance with another big effort against his former team?
A: It was a big challenge too. McInnes has been a really important player for them and Brock has pretty good for us. He gave us first use and he was a good player. It was fantastic for him to play State footy, he's been a great servant for us and he is a really consistent player. It was great to see him rewarded.

Q: Noah Strom seems to get better every week and he clearly won his battle with Jarrod Brander?
A: It's hard for a young kid getting drafted, moving away from home and he has had a pretty good start, Brander. But Noah was good and I think he's building. He really got an opportunity because unfortunately Zac was really crook so he got his chance and he has grabbed it. He continues to improve which is good as does Chad Pearson who is another young player playing down there. They are really growing and that's important for us.

Q: Shane Hockey continues to have an outstanding season in the midfield?
A: He is really going well. Our mix in there has changed a bit and Marlion Pickett has been able to give us something and I thought our skipper Dylan Main was super. He had 14 tackles and nine of those in the first half. Around those, you've got Schloithey, Hamsy and these sort of guys who can also go through there. We think our midfield depth is OK but we always like to continue to build, the more you can get through there the more options you've got.

Q: The difference seemed to be your hardness in the middle and that was led by Main, Pickett, Hockey and Schloithe laying 38 tackles between them?
A: I thought our forwards did a great job as well to put on pressure too and so did our mids which makes it easier for your defenders, and to stop the opposition scoring. They only had low 30s for inside 50s on the day and that makes it pretty hard to kick a winning score.

Q: How pleasing is it to apply that pressure, force the opposition to turn it over and then be clinical enough to punish them the other way?
A: We were much today consistently and over the last three quarters we were pretty happy. Again we still have some really young guys. Dan Cabassi and Donaldson are playing forward and their work rate was strong along with Matty Parker. Then we have Shawry, Dell, Hamsy and Saundo when he was there who was able to have an impact as well. We think we've got a nice blend of youth and we have a couple to come back so that's pleasing.

Q: Couple of tough calls at selection with the likes of Steve Verrier, Edwards and Zac Strom playing reserves. You would have been especially pleased with how Verrier responded with 35 possessions?
A: He was fantastic. He came third in our fairest and best a couple of years ago and had no luck last year with injury. We know that at his best he's in our team and it was just an opportunity for him to go back and lead, and get his hands on the ball. He responded how we expected him to by being selfless and playing really well.

Q: Ben Saunders had to sit out a lot of the second half again, does he need a spell?
A: We just have to wait and see. He experienced some awareness in the hamstring and came off. We'll take no risk, if he's not available and can't play after a couple of scares the last couple of games, then we won't be playing him. There'll be no risk taken on him. We'll assess it during the week.

Q: Claremont are struggling a little bit but you know Darren Harris very well, he'll have them ready on Saturday for you?
A: He knows us really well too having spent some time with us as a club while he wasn’t coaching so he knows our guys pretty well. But it's a great challenge for us again. If we want to be a good side in the comp, it doesn’t matter who you come up against you need to prepare to play well. We'll get back on the track, train well and work on a few more things we need to get better at.