Todd Curley Q and A – Round 19

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

Curley spoke following Saturday's loss to Subiaco in a competitive showing at Medibank Stadium and looks ahead to this Saturday's clash with the third placed Peel Thunder at Fremantle Oval.

QUESTION: It was always going to be tough against Subiaco, but for the first three quarters you were terrific with way you took it up to them?
ANSWER: We were really pleased especially at half-time and that was more so with the start to play with some real intent to get some scoreboard pressure on which we haven’t been able to do for a while. I guess from where we were coming from it was a step in the right direction.

Q: Disappointing that they ran over the top of you in the last quarter, but do you still take the positives out of what you did for most of the game?
A: We certainly weren’t pleased with how it ended, but they are a quality team and they are able to sustain and play at a higher level for longer than most teams, that's why they are going so well. Clearly we couldn’t sustain the effort to stay in the game and couldn’t keep the pressure on them, so that's something to work on.

Q: Did you get tired in the last quarter or is it just their quality that they can find something with the game on the line, or what do you put it down to?
A: It was a pretty physical brand of footy and I think that they play a brand of footy that they can sustain for longer. We couldn’t go with them for four quarters. We hung in pretty good in the first half and were still a shot at three quarter-time, but we looked like we didn’t have much run left right.

Q: Made quite a few changes and Jarrod Parry and Anthony Collica both came back into the midfield for the first time in a while and did well?
A: Collica's form has been really strong for about a month so he got his chance, and we played him inside which is where he's been playing at twos level and was OK. Jarrod missed a bit of time injured, played one back and he's one of our leaders so we were pretty keen to get him back in.

Q: Ashton Hams couldn’t have done much more in his 150th game?
A: He is a competitor and he keeps working right to the end. Getting to 150 games is a great effort and it's something that I'm sure he will look back on really proudly when he's finished.

Q: How far ahead of the rest of the competition do you see Subiaco as being. The ladder suggests four games, are they that far ahead, you've lost to them three times this year now?
A: East Perth were pretty good last week to be honest, but the strength of Subi is that they are very even, they all play their role and they are able to sustain it longer than everyone else. They seem to find a way to grind over the top and they are the reigning premier, and are clear on top so I guess they are the team to beat.

Q: Disappointing end to the game for Craig White hurting his shoulder. How's that looking?
A: We've certainly had no discussions about whether he plays on next year or not. But we are hoping his shoulder's not too serious so we think he's still a chance to play next week.

Q: Lost the skipper Ryan Cook and one of your key defenders Blayne Wilson to shoulder injuries as well, either of those a chance to come back?
A: Blayne won't play again this year. He has to have some shoulder surgery. But Cooky's a chance for next week.

Q: Makes it tough to make the finals now but if you win the last three games you never know. But it's tough starting against Peel on Saturday?
A: I guess for us it's just a chance to improve. We were terrible last week, we were pretty good for two and-a-half quarters this week and we have to get back out and get back on the horse, train hard to improve and we still have to work on our ball use a bit especially in the first half. Peel will be tough, but to be honest we are more focused on what we're doing than the opposition at this minute.