The game – Richmond 13.14 (92) d West Coast 11. 11 (77) at Docklands, Rd 12, 2009 Toyota AFL Premiership Season
The stats – nine kicks, 11 handballs, three marks, two clearances, 27 hit-outs and 13 centre hit-outs
What did you do in the afternoon before the match?
Not too much. The toughest thing about a night game is to try and fill the day in without spending too much energy. We had a walk and stretch this morning. Then we went straight from there into breakfast.
After breakfast, we went for a walk. Most of the players got together just to get out of the hotel. We were at the hotel a day before – we can’t be stuck in a hotel room all the time. You have got to get out.
And when you arrived at the ground?
I always make sure I go around to the midfielders and younger teammates to make sure they know their role in the football side. That takes up most of it. Then we’re on the ground doing our warm-up and switching on for the game.
What was some of the advice you gave them?
We had to keep the intensity there. We took a massive step forward against the Cats the previous week and put them under enormous pressure. We had to do that again. We have a few young midfielders coming through in (Jamie) NcNamara, (Chris) Masten, (Brad) Ebert and (Tom) Swift – these sorts of players who haven’t played a lot of footy. Myself, (Matt) Priddis, (Daniel) Kerr and Adam Selwood probably need to make sure they know their role in set-ups and where they have got to be.
What was the feel in the rooms before the match?
I was confident. You go into every game knowing if you play near your best you are going to challenge most teams. The feeling was exactly the same this time. We wanted to come over here and back up the effort we put in last week. I thought we did that at times, but we cost ourselves with some skill execution errors and the result took care of itself.
You spoke to debutant Nic Naitanui as the team was warming up. What did you say to him?
I made sure he knew about the ruck taps and where to hit it. I kept the set-ups as simple as possible, so he doesn’t have to think too much. I remember when I was a young kid, I tried to remember every single thing. You give him some tiny focus points and go from there.
What did you make of his first game for the side?
The good thing about Nic is he has come a long way in a short space of time. We don’t expect him to go and dominate a game, we want him to just go out there, have fun and bring his strengths to the playing group. He is a great tap ruckman and his pressure, chasing and tackling is excellent.
He took a big hanger and that’s what you want from your young kids. You want them to play their role for the footy side and go out there and enjoy it.
I noticed you wanted to stay a kick behind the ball throughout the game. Was that a directive from the coaching staff?
Not really. It’s just about reading the state of the game, especially early when we had minimal possessions. Richmond really jumped out of the blocks and it’s just about reading it and getting into positions where you think you can be dangerous and help your football side.
Was it mentioned during the game how the team was winning the hit-outs (39 to 24), yet the Tigers were dominating the clearances (36 to 25)?
That’s credit to Richmond. They were hungrier at the contests. They wanted the first possession a lot more than we did. They got their body inside – you’ve got (Shane) Tuck, (Nathan) Foley, (Brett) Deledio and (Daniel) Jackson – they are some really strong, mature bodies. It’s a matter of us building a chemistry to work with one another. That’s a work in progress and we will keep going forward.
Did you do anything differently to address the problem?
We went through it at quarter time with (assistant coach) Scotty Burns. It was an area we needed to work on. I think we evened the stoppages in the second quarter compared to when we got thrashed in the first term.
You try and monitor things as much as possible and try something different in there to keep the opposition guessing.
What did John Worsfold have to say to you and the team at three-quarter time, with the team down by just 11 points?
Take the game on. That’s what got us into the position. We came back and had a real crack at them. That’s what you play football for – to be in close games and really fight for one another. Unfortunately Richmond got a couple of early goals. We tried to push back as much as we could, but it wasn’t enough.
How did it feel playing against former teammate Ben Cousins tonight?
Obviously, you know you’re playing against him, but we’ve done it with Juddy (Chris Judd) before. Once the game started, he’s one of 22 Richmond players we had to take care of. He is a fantastic player – he played a good game.
How did you rate your game from a personal perspective?
Games are always tough to rate when you lose. I think you always look at the little things that you could have done better. The communication around the stoppages, there were a couple of skill errors that let myself down as well as the team. Ruck-wise I thought I was okay. I just probably needed to be a bit more polished.
