Coach Post Match – Todd Curley Second Semi-Final

WHAT South Fremantle coach Todd Curley had to say following the 18-point second semi-final loss to Subiaco and looking ahead to this Sunday's preliminary final against West Perth at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

QUESTION: What are your first thoughts after that game?
ANSWER: It was interesting, we did a lot of things right but we had a bad third quarter and that really cost us. I thought we did some good stuff and think we have some growth left in us. We just have to recover well now and get ready for next week.

Q: You probably put them under heat they haven’t been under all season, you would have especially taken heart from the way you started the game?
A: I don’t think it matters who you're playing, if you are under pressure it makes it hard to execute. We probably weren’t able to sustain it at times but I thought the boys really hung in and we were still really pushing even late in the game. We just couldn’t take our opportunities and I thought we blew a few, but they did too. I thought we were still coming but they were just a bit better on the day overall.

Q: Turnovers against Subiaco hurt you a lot more than against any other side, and them making you pay for mistakes was probably the biggest difference in the end?
A: We've been really good with that over the past probably eight weeks and a lot of them was basic stuff for us like kicking into the man on the mark, fumbles and not taking the right option. But that's finals footy and that's pressure. To be honest we probably haven’t been under enormous pressure either the last few weeks so to their credit they certainly lifted their intensity after quarter-time. But I thought we hung in.

Q: You mentioned how strongly you were still fighting at the end, you did that after losing Steve Verrier early in the game too?
A: We thought we ran it out pretty well. It was pretty warm compared to what the weather's been like the last few weeks. I don’t know what it is about playing here against Subi, we tend to always lose someone early and it happened last year, but that's footy. I thought the ones that played, and even Steve until he got hurt, hung in and kept pushing.

Q: He did start well and had the job on Ben Sokol which he would have been looking forward to, what do you know about his injury?
A: He doesn’t remember much except he was in a contest and he's not sure if he stood on someone or there was a tangle of legs. He'll get some scans but he's pretty sore obviously and didn’t come back on the ground.

Q: How late did you make the call on Brock Higgins before ruling him out?
A: We gave him every chance and he trained a bit on Friday, and pulled up sort of OK. Then on the morning of the game he was feeling pretty good but then in the warm up he just put his hand up, to his credit, and said that he didn’t think he could get through a whole game. It's a really good effort by him to put his hand up and I though Blair on a really limited preparation was pretty good.

Q: Would you expect Higgins to be right for the preliminary final given how close he was?
A: I think he'll be available but ankle injuries are funny. They can improve quickly and then sort of plateau a bit and then improve again. He was really positive that he'd be right to go this week and he'll do everything right to be ready for next week.

Q: It's not the result you were after but do you take a lot of heart from the performance that if you end up playing Subiaco again, you can more than take it up to them?
A: To be honest we have a real belief that we can take it up to anybody but for us at this point Subi's no longer in the picture, we are focused on West Perth who had a great win against Claremont who had been in really good form. They will be a really tough challenge for us and no doubt they will be super determined to be better than they were last week and take their chances. Even in the first half of that first final, there were a few chances for them that they probably didn’t take. The challenge for our boys is to recover, train well this week and get ready to go.

Q: When you beat a team as well as you did in that qualifying final, what do you have to be mindful of against them this time around?
A: The fact that at the end of the game you are in a Grand Final probably should take care of any thoughts of thinking it's just going to happen. We've been in a position where we haven’t played very well at all and sometimes if you're winning games but not playing well it can cover up certain things that aren’t going well. There's no doubt they would have looked at our game and saw some things they can do better and went back to work hard on it. They will be really stiff opposition for us and make sure we are ready to go.

Q: Third time you have played them in the last seven weeks so there's certainly going to be no surprises?
A: To be honest once you get to finals footy, if you're relying on tricks and tactics, and that sort of stuff, you are probably in a bit of trouble. I'm sure both teams will play their own way and there's no secret, you need your best players playing well and that will be our aim.