“We were encouraged and feel that there were good signs but we’re mindful that we’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do get up to our goal this year and that is to be competitive against the top four sides.”
On Drew Petrie’s return:
“He didn’t want to come off at all and he looked really strong out there. I wouldn’t have minded if he didn’t touch the ball at all, as long as he got through all four quarters fit and healthy. He got through the four quarters and played quite well too.”
On Ben McKinley’s six goal game and the forward line:
“It was really encouraging for him and I thought our forward line moved quite well and we’re going to have some selection dilemmas there because Ben Warren and Aaron Edwards were terrific too. We’ve got Lindsay Thomas who is a really dangerous forward as well so we’ve certainly got some options now.
On the new-look midfield:
“We’re really trying to expand our options through there and Jack Ziebell we know can play through the midfield but we need to find some other guys to get in there and support Andrew Swallow and Daniel Wells and Brent Harvey. We think we’re starting to find those guys and develop them as well. Shaun Atley was also terrific for us in there as well so for someone who has never played a game of senior football at any level, I thought he acquitted himself really well.”
On Jack Ziebell’s injury scare:
“He’s fine. I mean you have your heart in your mouth when you see him go down. He just got a knee in the back which hurt him for a couple of seconds but he’ll be okay.”
On Brady Rawlings’ injury scare:
“Brady came off really early in the game, he just felt a bit tight in the back and the hamstring. With his age and experience we just wouldn’t risk him. The guys are really confident that he’ll be right to play next week so we’ll manage those guys that are in that age bracket through the NAB Cup. We don’t expect Brady to play more than two or three NAB Cup games anyway. Whether he plays next week or not, I’m not sure.”
On the mix of forwards with Petrie, Hansen and Edwards working well together:
“The problem we’re going to have is that Thomas, Warren and McKinley were pretty good up the other end at different stages too. We’ve got some work to do with that forward structure but the encouraging thing was they all got their fair share of the ball.”
On Jack Ziebell and Liam Anthony:
“He’s a really composed player with the ball in his hands and we think he can set us up really well from behind the ball but his best work is always going to be in close. He’s such a strong young guy for a twenty year-old but we’d like to have him in close winning the ball for us. To see him get through the game and play really well…he got the knee in the back but other than that he got through. Liam Anthony was the other player coming back from a long term injury and he played some good footy too. So to get Ziebell, Anthony back into our midfield is going to help us.”
On the thousands of Ballarat locals at the game:
“This sort of turn-out for a scratch match suggests an AFL game would be enormous up here.”
On Cruize Garlett:
“He’s worked really hard on his aerobic endurance over the pre-season. He’s probably one of the best one-touch midfielders going around. If he can really develop the other sides of his game the potential is limitless.”
On those who flew under the radar:
"Shaun Atley probably flew under the radar for a lot of people because they don’t know him as much yet. Leigh Adams was terrific, Andrew Swallow did what he usually does and there were a lot of really strong performances. I thought Jamie Macmillan did well in the back half under some pressure."
On the selection table:
"There are some guys that are really putting their hand up and we were really conscious that we needed to develop 34 or 35 players that were capable of playing senior footy and we think we’re pretty close to doing that now."
