Todd Curley Q and A – Round 2

SOUTH Fremantle coach Todd Curley's weekly question and answer session during the 2015 McDonald's WAFL Premiership season.

Curley spoke following Saturday's hard fought 10-point win over Perth at Lathlain Park and looks ahead to the Good Friday clash with Claremont at Fremantle Oval as the Bulldogs hunt for a 3-0 start to the season, and an eighth straight win overall.

QUESTION: Perth got a bit closer at the end than you would have liked, but early in the year you will take wins however you can get them?
ANSWER: We probably left the door open a bit, but to their credit they probably missed a few opportunities early and then kicked a couple of goals and it got a bit closer than we would have liked. But still at the end of the day it's four points and we'll take it.

Q: You seemed in control of the contest pretty much all day, disappointing not to open up a bigger lead to put them away?
A: It's a tough one because it was pretty warm out there and we seemed to have patches where we played good footy, and then we made a few silly mistakes to leave the door ajar. We probably didn’t take our chances early and probably should have been a little further in front at the halfway mark. But at the end of the day it's four points and we'll take it. We've learnt a lot from it and we'll get some good edits from the video, learn from it and move forward.

Q: Handy to have someone like Ben Saunders up front who can kick crucial goals when it matters most, like he did there in the last quarter?
A: Yeah it was certainly a good goal and at the time it was one we needed no doubt. But the pleasing thing was that he kicked 4.2, laid five tackles and put a heap of pressure on up forward. We know he is really talented and he will kick goals, we just have to get him to really work hard defensively and he's really doing that. It was a good performance.

Q: You gave Adam Guglielmana the job on Mitch Morton and they were isolated out of the goal square for much of the game. Happy with the job he did on an AFL premiership player?
A: Yeah he did a good job.  Morton is a talented player and he's going to have shots at goal, but we just tried to force him wide where we could and make his job difficult. Googs stuck to his task and did a good job.

Q: There was obviously things you can improve on from the game. But what did you like?
A: We probably set ourselves to match their intensity after they had a tough week off the ground after a disappointing start, so we knew they were going to come out with real intensity and we set ourselves to match that. I thought we did and for the most part we played some good patches, we just didn’t string anywhere near four quarters together. There was a few bits to like and we have a few bits to work on.

Q: A good way to start the season, though, with two wins?
A: Yeah definitely. You definitely take two wins over two losses, and when you can probably not play that well and come out of it with a win you take that every day.

Q: Another debutant as well with Bailey Matera playing his first game and he showed some good signs?
A: Yeah he's a talented kid and earned his right to get a game. He showed a few things to suggest we have a player there that we can work with going forward. He didn’t look overawed and did a few nice things so it was good to see him out there.

Q: Ashton Hams didn’t play. Is he likely to play against Claremont on Good Friday?
A: He should do. He was a little bit sore and trained Thursday and thought he would be OK, but he pulled out. I think he will be around the mark next week.

Q: Are you expecting Cory Dell'Olio to play next week, and it's nice knowing you have Parry, Borovac and a few others still waiting in the wings?
A: Yeah we have a few guys who played well in the twos as well which is really good. Dell will be available when he's available. He is fit and been training well, so when's able to he will play.

Q: What are you expecting from Claremont next Friday night?
A: It's a bit of a tough one this week because Claremont had the bye last week so we've only got one game to go off. We've probably got a situation at the minute where we worry about getting ourselves right before worrying too much about the opposition. We'll respect them and all of that stuff but we have to get our own game right first.

Q: Glad to be playing Good Friday football?
A: It will be good and it starts a bit earlier at about 6 o'clock so it's good for the families to come down and watch. I'm all for Good Friday footy, certainly in the afternoon and in the evening. Generally I'm looking for something to do so it will be good and I'm looking forward to it.