Todd Curley Q and A – Round 3

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

Curley spoke following the 38-point Good Friday win over Claremont at Fremantle Oval that leaves the Bulldogs on top of the WAFL ladder as the last remaining unbeaten team after three rounds.

QUESTION: Another win to continue the unbeaten start to the season but probably the best performance of the three so far?
ANSWER: Yeah it was probably a more even performance throughout the game. I thought we controlled it for large periods and it was pleasing. I would have liked us to kick a little bit straighter, but it's four points in the bank and another game with pretty much the same crew playing together. They are starting to develop some spirit.

Q: The way you finished last week against Perth wasn’t great, but this was pretty much a full four quarter performance?
A: Last week probably didn’t look as bad on tape as it did on the day, and the final margin wasn’t great but again we controlled large periods and then would switch off for a couple of minutes. To Perth's credit they took made the most of that and kicked some goals. The pleasing thing is that obviously we have been in every game obviously and really competing, and this was probably our best.

Q: What do you know about Haiden Schloithe's ankle injury?
A: He rolled his ankle and we won't know too much more until later in the week. We are hopeful it's not too bad but we just have to wait and see.

Q: What about Cory Dell'Olio, what did you take out of that in terms of the talk about him being available for the first time and how did you rate his game?
A: I think there's no doubt he will improve on that. It's the first game he has played all year even though he's been training a lot. I thought he was really good in his role and you saw his front and centre goal early in the game which showed what he's going to bring to us with his energy. He has just been training and desperate to play so it was good to have him out there.

Q: Dylan Ross is a quiet achiever and he was good again?
A: I think the backs were all pretty solid for the night, but again I thought the forwards and mids worked really hard to put on pressure. I don’t think there were too many that won out and out clear ball from the Claremont boys, which helps out the defenders.

Q: Marlon Pickett was struggling to find what his best position was last year. But he looks very comfortable across half-back?
A: Yeah he has played there the last couple of weeks and he's an interesting sort of match up because he's got some real speed and height, and he can play tall and small. Look he's been good across half-back and he played pretty well wing and half-forward too in the pre-season, but certainly the last couple of weeks playing back he's been very good.

Q: Jarrod Parry was another to play his first game of the season and looked like he hasn’t missed a beat?
A: He is one of our leaders and we were pretty keen to get him back as quickly as possible. He got a knock early in the pre-season but he played well last week in the reserves and certainly earned his right to play, and didn’t let us down. We didn’t think he would either and he was really solid for us.

Q: You must set goals for each little block and three wins is clearly better than three losses, but what did you hope for in the pre-season?
A: We obviously set some really short-term goals. We hadn’t started well as a club the last few years so it was really important to win Round 1 which we were able to do and now it's about drilling in each week that we want to keep improving, and winning. The players have been through the last couple of years learning that it's really hard to chase if you lose a lot of games early so these early wins are worth their weight in gold. It's been a good start but you just have to keep working and there's lots of areas to improve.

Q: Starting next week against Swans at Steel Blue Oval?
A: Yeah we are out at Swans next week so that's another challenge away from home. They have a good, young side and move the ball quick, and they obviously played finals last year and we didn’t so it will be a good challenge for us.

Q: You had a familiar face with you in the box with Darren Harris, a man you played in a premiership with and who coached you to a premiership. Is that a one off and what does he bring to the table?
A: He is just doing a little bit of work with us in a mentor role for the coaches more than anything. He was a very good player and coach so I lean on him a fair bit.

Q: You saw John Dimmer do something similar for Darren when you won the 2013 premiership with West Perth in a mentor role. So you've obviously seen it work previously?
A: I think it's just good to have someone who isn’t in the club on a daily basis to come in and give you a different perception, and different set of eyes. That's the main reason for it and he's got a good footy brain, so he picks things up pretty quick.