“This week we are playing at our home venue against a team that is obviously struggling. We were quite good the last time we played at the Gabba and the comfort of your home crowd and your home ground is beneficial. We could potentially be a little weak in our own personnel but it presents a new set of challenges.”
“I would much rather be playing a team that is playing poorly than a team that is playing terrific.”
“It’s easy to look at a team and think they don’t have many strengths, but Melbourne proved that to be incorrect didn’t they? They didn’t look to have too many strengths going into our game, but came out with plenty that they took into their game against the Bulldogs.”
“The Eagles are different in a couple of key personnel this year and don’t seem to be performing to levels they have in the past.”
“Historically, we tend to have done better against the Eagles at Perth than we have at the Gabba.”
“But if we expect that West Coast are just going to come up and roll over and let us beat them then we’re going to be in for another rude shock.”
On the team’s confidence:
“We try to be realistic. We played some good footy last Saturday night, but they played better than us in more patches – that’s a fact.”
“You have an emotional downer when you lose but by Monday or Tuesday you become realistic and ask yourself what happened, what can be learned from the loss and what do we have to do at training this week to prepare for next week’s opposition?”
On Simon Black and Jonathan Brown’s injuries:
“Simon Black and Browny would both be questionable to play but we’ll know more as the week goes on.”
“Neither of them have been ruled out by our medical people at this stage. It’s more of a soreness issue so it’s just a question of how long it takes until that soreness has gone.”
On the team’s form away from Brisbane:
“The last three times we have travelled, we haven’t come home with a win. But I don’t think that will alter how we go about it next time we play interstate.”
“Historically, the home team wins more often than the travelling team does.”
