Coach Post Match – Todd Curley Round 1

WHAT South Fremantle coach Todd Curley had to say following the Round 1 WAFL victory over Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval to open the 2019 season.

QUESTION: Round 1 is not often pretty but you would be happy enough to come away with the four points?
ANSWER: You're always happy when you get four points. It wasn’t our best day and clearly it was a pretty scrappy game, and it wouldn’t have been a great game to watch. I thought our effort was pretty good and I thought we showed a bit of character in the second half when clearly things weren’t going how we wanted them to. We hung in there and worked pretty hard, and got away with a win.

Q: Your expectations of what you're happy with in Round 1 would be different to later in the season, but were you happy enough with what you saw?
A: You want to see some stuff that you've practiced and a few of those things we got bits of them right, but we probably never got all of it right all at once. There's lots to take out of it though. Caleb Datson in his first game was a real shining light. Even if the first half he was the one who looked composed and used the ball well. We had a lot of young players and would have had half a dozen who have played less than five games. They would have learned a lot and will get better.

Q: The back-line looked outstanding and you'd be happy to only concede seven goals and get good drive from there? 
A: I thought they were all pretty solid down there to be honest. I thought Blayne was pretty good, McIntosh and Maskos are experienced and then Spooner and Dent played their role. They will get better the more they play together but some of them have played a fair bit and others are quite young. I thought we were quite solid in the back end and we rebounded more than 30 of their 40 inside 50s. But clearly we didn’t move the ball anywhere near how we wanted to. We knew that they would just fold back but unfortunately we just kept kicking it to them and they would score off turnover. It's some good learnings from us and we'll show that to the group, and work on getting better.

Q: Jason Maskos missed the first part of last year but then showed he's probably the best small defender in the WAFL and started off 2019 tremendously with his job on George Hampson?
A: To be honest we didn’t set him specifically for that match up, he just sort of takes who he thinks he needs to play on. I thought he did a good job. Early last year he broke his hand and missed five or six weeks, and then came back and was pretty solid for us. I thought our whole effort as a team was good and consistent, but our method can get better.

Q: Some of your quality and experience in the middle like Stewart, Schloithe, Suban and Higgins stood up when it counted?
A: I thought our midfield in the second half were pretty good. Dragovich, Suban, Schloithe, Kade and Higgins when the game was on the line they were pretty good for us. We found a way to win the game. Donaldson lifted as well in the last quarter. We did lose Main early which put us under pressure as well but at the end of the year they don’t say you had four ugly wins and six that looked beautiful, they all look beautiful when you get the four points. We'll take it and move on.

Q: What do you know about Dylan Main's injury:
A: I think he's just felt a bit tight in the hamstring early on which is never a good sign. Then it was about the risk of him going back on and he could really do it so we pulled him out. He's never done a hamstring before so we just have to wait and see.

Q: And Marlion Pickett:
A: He broke his finger with about two minutes to go last week so he'll miss a couple. But that gives some other guys opportunity.

Q: Home game against Perth now next Saturday?
A: It's always great to play at home. It's where you train and hopefully all our supporters get down there. I know our effort was good this week so if we bring that again I know we'll be right in the mix again.