Coach Post Match – Todd Curley Round 17

WHAT South Fremantle coach Todd Curley had to say following the Round 17 WAFL victory against East Perth at Leederville Oval and looking ahead to Saturday's clash with Peel Thunder at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

QUESTION: What are your reactions to that pretty solid win? 
ANSWER: We were a bit disappointed obviously with the first half. But I thought we defended pretty strongly and played much better in the second half. We'll continue to build, take the points and move on.

Q: I would have thought your message at half-time was a pretty strong one, were you happy with the response?
A: They responded really well. We were really disappointed at half-time in all our phases. We just thought we weren’t playing team footy, weren’t selfless enough and weren’t playing our brand and our way. To their credit they certainly came out and started really in the third quarter. I thought they were pretty good even though we lost someone again with Shaun Bewick going down before quarter-time. So it was always a challenge for us but we'll go away pretty pleased in the end.

Q: As happy as you would have been to kick eight goals in the third quarter, were you even happier to hold them scoreless?
A: If you let them play the way they want to play they can score really quickly so we were disappointed in the first half, no doubt. We were actually pretty good in the first quarter but kicked 3.6 so you've got to take your chances and put scoreboard pressure on which certainly in the third quarter we were able to do.

Q: Found a way to kick 15 goals without Mason Shaw kicking any which is a good sign?
A: Mason's had a great year for us but we certainly don’t want to have to rely on him kicking a bag of goals for us to win. It would be nice for him to just contribute every week which he has done to this point, but we want to spread the load with goals. We think we've done that most weeks this year and for him to not really have an impact on the scoreboard but for us to still score was pleasing. But we were probably more happy with the way we defended in the second half.

Q: It was the small forwards who stepped up too with Haydon, Stewart, Russell and Datson all combining for 10 of your 15 goals?
A: We looked dangerous and I thought their pressure was pretty good for the most part. Haydon, Cabassi and Donaldson all went through there and were able to have an impact as well as getting on the scoreboard. We defend best when we defend as a whole group and we probably got that going in the second half.

Q: Did Shaun Bewick just cop a cork or is it something more?
A: It's just a corkie, just a good one unfortunately. He was keen to keep going but we learned a lesson a couple of weeks ago against Claremont when we had some guys who were sore and keen to keep going. Adam McIntosh had a broken hand but was keen to keep going and help us rotate. But at the end of the day you keep kicking him the ball and he can't function as much as he wanted to. We thought that probably hurt us a bit so this time we decided it was better for us to take Bewy out of the game and just play one short.

Q: Two wins in-a-row now, do you feel like you are starting to get some momentum back?
A: To be honest we were really poor against Subi and played one poor quarter against West Coast and got beaten, and then against Claremont we were really good for two and-a-half quarters, and Perth three and-a-half to be honest so we haven’t been far away. But certainly in the last month we think we're getting better and are starting to get some players back availability-wise so are getting healthier. The bye ended up coming at a good time for us.

Q: What are you hoping to see next week at home to Peel?
A: We just hope to produce more of the same really. Vandeleur will play again next week, Collard will play again and we are getting more depth. Della played OK in the twos and there's Abbott, Ward, Blechynden and De San Miguel all back there who can play senior footy. We think that as they start to put heat on for spots that will help as well. But we are really pleased that the guys are playing their role especially in that second half and that's all we want.