Todd Curley Q and A – Round 5

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

Curley spoke following Saturday's 89-point loss to Subiaco and looks ahead to this Monday's Anzac Day holiday clash with East Fremantle at Fremantle Oval.

QUESTION: Difficult to know what to say after a loss like that. You started the game well in the first quarter, from your perspective what happened after quarter-time when Subiaco really got on top?
ANSWER: Obviously the first quarter wasn’t too bad. We were a bit sloppy with the ball, but obviously after that we didn’t compete. I thought they were pretty good, but we didn’t pressure them and play the way we really wanted to but you can only play as well as the opposition lets you. The margin almost flattered us at the end probably.

Q: The pressure you didn’t put them under, was that the most disappointing part of the result?
A: Yeah definitely but it's pretty hard when you have a fair portion of the team that don't really contribute. We left far too much to too few and especially against good teams, they are going to take advantage of it.

Q: You still had a lot of possession, especially in the first half but you had as many if not more handballs than kicks. Was that from the pressure they put you under or just the players making the wrong decisions or putting themselves under pressure?
A: We certainly addressed it at half-time that we were handballing it far too much and their pressure was very good, but there were still opportunities to kick the ball more often. Certainly it's not the way we want to play with having more handballs than kicks, and the handball numbers were well in advantage of the kicks at half-time. We tried to address it but we couldn’t get back on track.

Q: With so many players not contributing the way you would expect, what do you do with the group this week to now get ready for next Monday?
A: We weren’t great either last week and we only made two changes and backed a lot of blokes in, and unfortunately for a lot of them they didn’t take that opportunity. Our reserves had a great win again and there are guys who have been in really strong form so we will go back to the drawing board. We are still 3-2, though, and have 10 days from this loss to train and get reorganised. We will look to play some really competitive players who want to compete in every contest.

Q: Is it good to have that bit longer of a break to prepare to play East Fremantle on Monday?
A: Yeah I think so. It's never good to have a loss like that but we get a chance to train a couple of times now this week and we can train pretty hard, so that will be good.

Q: A good thing that the reserves are in good form so a number of players will now come into calculations for a call up?
A: Yeah clearly the group we played this week weren’t up to the mark so we will just pick our side on performance. There are certainly a few guys who have been putting their hands up at reserves level and did again this week.

Q: You took part in a lot of West Perth-East Perth derbies as a player and coach. You would have heard a lot about the Fremantle derbies and you now get your first taste of it. What are you expecting?
A: I would say it will be a pretty physical start, but once the game gets going generally it's just another game of footy. We expect to play our win, win hard ball and to get back on track.

Q: Always a big game for a derby. It's a public holiday Monday and back here at Fremantle Oval. It shapes as a big day for the club?
A: Yeah obviously it's a good chance to bounce back and we need to get back on track quickly.