THIS time last year, Luke (Power) had retired, Mitch Clark was going, (Brent) Staker was facing a year off, you couldn't run out fourth quarters - this year seems pretty free of those sort of dramas. It must be a good feeling?

It's a bit more settled. When you look at your program and see where your improvement is going to come from, knowing you've got pretty much a full list and seeing just how you can improve it, it's the first time we've been at that stage for a couple of years. It's the first time we've come into a pre-season where we're going to embark on improving on the way we do things, making more efficient what we already do. In the past we've had to build things and see whether it works, test it and run it, but we're through all that now. We have a clear, specific idea of where our group's at and what's working and we can make some really good decisions from here with what we need to do.

At the end of the season you said you were happy with 10 wins but felt you were still trying to gain the respect of the competition - is that still how you feel?

I think that's ongoing, respect. We've really tried to go about it in a manner whereby people respect you and can see the gains that were being made and that we're building a brand people would want to come and watch. Not a lot has been talked about some of our young fellas and exactly what they can and can't do. Our list has been examined by some as poor and we share different views of that. We've got some emerging talent coming through. You want people to notice our players and the work they're doing. Not only that, but come to the Gabba and watch us and have a Queensland public that gets right in behind you and gets bums on seats and makes this really, really hard.

Speaking of that emerging talent, who has elevated their game in your eyes?

Talk about emerging talent, [Dayne] Zorko fits into that category. Ryan Lester had a great year, Jared Polec, Mitch Golby played half a season before his foot injury. Ryan Harwood came through. He's been sitting there for three years thinking 'Which direction am I going in?' and he was able to improve. Josh Green and Claye Beams late in the season. Then there was a couple we wanted to go another step from last year like Daniel Rich, Pearce Hanley, Jack Redden, and they were able to get themselves to a slightly different level again. They could be more consistent but they've shown capacity that they've got more in their game, which is pretty exciting. We have to get more work in our talls, but with [Matthew] Leuenberger and Staker sitting there as pretty much draft picks next year, that's pretty exciting.

You juggled a few guys this year - Harwood went back, you moved Merrett forward, Lester played in the middle - do you think you're getting a sense of where your guys play their best?

That's been the strength of our season. In the first eight rounds we played 35 players - I'll have to check on that number - but that's a hell of a lot of players to be playing so early, so your team is not really settled. Once we were able to settle the group, we got some really good performances. Generally speaking, the consistency they've shown, they can play at a pretty good level when they're all together.

We come into a pre-season where we can specifically work on where they play because we've had to juggle a few people in different areas while they're learning. Where you start your career as opposed to where you finish your career are two different things. Ryan Harwood started as a midfielder, but he'll probably finish as a defender. He'll probably at heart still want to be a midfielder, but guess where he's staying? He's staying as a defender. When people look at our season and ask about the progress, they're all the little team things we can see where we've progressed. We can come into pre-season and say 'You're there, you're there, you're there' and you can train them on the skill sets required for those positions.

You sound very confident now on exactly where everyone fits.

Very, very. As a match committee it took us half the year. Let's face it, we're unknowns. When you're unknown, you don’t want to cap anyone and you've got to sort out where they're best suited in our group. There has been some fiddling. Daniel Merrett was born out of the fact Matty Maguire and Joel Patfull was going so well and we needed that ruck-forward. Jordan Lisle wasn't quite up and going and we needed someone to fill that gap and he did it, and he did it very well.

You played him up forward and he kicked his goals and did a good job, but was that a product of the younger guys not developing as quickly as you'd have hoped?

Nah, not so much. It was just a gap at the time. Leuenberger went down, Billy Longer didn't play many games, but he's year one, 19 years of age, and talls need time. It was a gap year in that area. In the back of our minds, we want to have a team where one day you can look at half-time and you can make some coaching moves that can have a significant difference to the outcome of the game depending on the situation of the game. Now we know coming into 2013, we want Daniel Merrett at full-back, but we know at half-time or three-quarter time if we need an impact we can move him forward, and he's confident he can do it. For that variety of reasons I thought it was a real winner. Now as a coaching group we have something up our sleeve.

Just on those younger guys, Lisle is here for a few more years, Aaron Cornelius is out of contract, Bryce Retzlaff was injured … particularly Cornelius, where does he fit in? He's got so much talent but was in-and-out of the team again this season.

Ace (Cornelius) is a third tall, he's not a primary tall. At NEAFL level he'll look like a primary forward, but he's not. As a result of that, he's got to get himself fitter and that's what will cap him. If he can get himself to the next level, which he's more than capable of, we'll have a pretty handy third tall. We all believe he can get there and we all believe he can play a significant role because I think everyone has seen the talent he has. There's a lot of things we need to get right in the role we need him to play and there's certain physical requirements that need to happen for that to take place. He's probably one of those we've fought between exactly what his position is, but we don't believe he's a primary forward. He has the capacity to play minutes there, but not games there. That's something that will shape him going forward.

So there's a spot for him at the club next year?

Oh yeah, he'll be here; yeah, yeah, he'll be here.

Your best victories were against Adelaide and West Coast, but a lot of the other teams above you really hammered you. Anything you can put that down to?

It's really sustainability. In those games we did lose, North got away by 52 points and we dragged it back to 16, Carlton put a burst on us in the third quarter, Richmond put a burst on us and we nearly dragged it back. The game is about being able to sustain it for 120 minutes, so you can't sugarcoat that, but what we have shown is that we are closing the gap, but we have this 20 minutes of football we need to get better at. The game is about sustainability of effort for four quarters, week after week after week and we still haven't shown the capability to do that. Once we get that right, you'll have a fairly handy side on the cards.

How much does it hurt you to miss finals? You're very competitive and you've missed out for the last three years now.

It stings, but you've got to be realistic too. We want to have a culture here where success is expected and demanded. Success is finals. Ten wins was a measure of improvement. As a club we've played one finals campaign in eight years and it's really important to break that drought. First thing we need to do, which I would just love to see, and would be my number-one wish for next year, is to make this venue really hard to win at. I really want that. Our group hasn't experienced something that's that week after week, 30,000-plus people turning up to your home venue and hearing just how goddamn bloody loud they are. It's a great venue. We've seen it in little bits and pieces. If we can get that weekly I know that'll have an impact on our performance. For us, we have to bring our A-game to draw people through the gates. I hope people have seen that this year and are talking about it.

I know you're reluctant to single out coaches, but I want to get a comment off you on Mark Harvey. He went from a senior coach to an assistant and came from the other side of the country, can you tell us how he fitted in and what impact he's made?

Big commitment. Anyone that comes in the first 12 months is feeling his way a little bit. I think Harvs over the pre-season was finding just where his niche was. But in terms of his immediate impact, it was really, really good. He's very, very passionate about how we're able to rebuild this team. He's doing a heap of work with that … and obviously being able to look at and interpret the game and state of play and what's needed. He's got a great mind - not very good, he's got a great,  great knowledge. To tap into that and kick ideas around stimulates creativity.

If nothing else, he understands the lay of the land of the coach and understands the time you do and don't have. I think what he's tried to do was make up for the parts where he got lessons from his own experience … and be able to spend times with our coaches, keeping messages simple, looking at drills. He thought that was one thing he missed out on doing on a weekly basis, because you just don't have time. It's got nothing to do with the fact you don’t want to. You've got 48 players walking through your door every week, and you've got to give them everything of yourself, plus the coaches, plus something else. That's what he'll do from now and I'm pretty pumped about the role he's going to play.

So there's no risk of losing him to another club, he'll be here next year?

Yeah he'll definitely be here next year.

You touched on his lessons, after the review at the club a couple of years ago you had to change a few things. How have you felt different as a person and coach since that review?

You don't have to have the biggest team, you just need a team that enables you to coach players. That sounds like a really simple thing, but you get dragged to so many other things - deliberately or not - and get involved in things you shouldn't be involved in and just focus on making sure the training is good, the environment is good, everyone's on the same task, you're coaching and preparing thoroughly during the week. I think in the past two years that's been heaps better, heaps better.

The head coach is responsible for getting the game-day outcomes, but he's also responsible for building a group and club heading in the same direction. That takes an enormous amount of people to do that. That takes a really good, strong coaching team, it takes a really robust administration, an excellent physical performance team to keep everyone on the park, a welfare program that players can tap into, a strong leadership program. They're really important facets just to help us win. There's a lot that goes behind the scenes. Sometimes you wish people could witness that and see it. But we're a results-orientated industry and that's fair enough.

Can you touch on a couple of older guys for me - Josh Drummond and Brent Staker. Staker's missed the best part of two years with knee recos and Drummo was again hampered late in the year. Where do they fit in?

Two important factors for us when we talk about maintaining intensity is the resilience in the group and the development of our players to step into key roles. We're asking some players in the infancy of our group to step up and play key roles for us. They're all things we look at in the results or non-results of the season. There's a lot of consideration with that with those two particular guys.

We have to make some really good projections on the development of our players and how fast they can come along and fill certain positions. We have a lot of work to do on our list. We've got improvement but a lot of work to get done.

It's no secret that you want Kurt Tippett, so that forward spot is one you want, what other spots on your list do you need to develop?

I think our midfield still has to develop and whether we look internally or externally for that … we still think we have Jared Polec who can play more in that position, Jack Crisp coming through, Patrick Karnezis has been playing in that position. Our on-ball brigade in the reserves finals has been Karnezis, Polec, Crisp, Longer and the average age is 19.5. That's exciting. You've got your main senior players and the next group coming through playing good football through the season. We've got to look to promote within but if we feel like there's a position to look at short-term wise, then we'll look at it. If we don't feel like we have someone that can fill a spot immediately, that's the ones we'll look at a bit more heavily.

You're keen to get Tippett. Is he the type of player that closes the gap to finals?

He's another piece. When you come in with your planning, you're not hanging your hat on one player. That's one of our needs. What he does or doesn't do, it hasn't come up a hell of a lot because nothing can happen. Nothing's been communicated the other way so for us it's waiting and planning and looking at what we can do and the development of our group and who can play there. There's other options, but we are pretty committed in making sure we can improve our list in some specific areas and as a result we have to open our eyes to other avenues, not just from within.

With so many young guys who are probably expecting to play seniors, has it been hard to manage their egos and expectations?

You're right, there is an expectation when they get here they'll be playing senior football. You want them getting games in their first couple of years, more their second year than their first - if they get games in their first year that's a bonus. Realistically it's wrong to assume their first year is their first year, their second year is their first year. That's the way you have to treat it. There's so much to develop. I often tell the story to the guys that when I started my career was eventually in my fourth year. It wasn't in the first year I came in and said 'I'm playing midfield, everyone else out'. It was my fourth year. I played on a wing in my first six games, half-back for the next two years. Fourth year was when I got my opportunity.

Where you start is not necessarily where you finish. It's not until year four when you say 'This is my spot, this is where I belong, I have an identity in the group'. That's why your group can't mature until they're four-years plus. They're still learning whether they're good enough. There's a lot of teaching involved. They'll fall and you'll need to pick them up, then they'll go great and you'll have to bring them back down. You need to find that healthy balance to drive them on a weekly basis. That's why you're on the heavy people management side at this stage. We have 20-plus players that fit into that three-years-and-under category, which is significant.

I only mention that because I chatted to Sam Docherty recently and he's one guy that falls into that category. High draft pick (No.12) but hasn't played a senior game this year. It's an interesting management dilemma.

If I had it my way, other than the really exceptional individuals, they wouldn't play senior footy at all. They have to build a big base and base fitness. They don't really have a pre-season. They don't start pre-season until December. They're here a few weeks, have Christmas and come back and 'Now I'm an AFL footballer'. Your first day really is when you start in the new year. They're eight weeks behind, they have no base and their strength isn't good enough and they're moving from home and they're cooking their own stuff now and they're in a different environment … you think about how much they go through, it's enormous. You've got to take that into consideration. Clearly, at the moment, we're happy to play the first year players, because we want to have a look at them, see what they're capable of and if they're comfortable. Then we can pick the eyes and see what they need to work on. Some will get games and some will have to fight. In Sam's case he's had to fight and that won't hurt him.

Paul Roos has been big over the years on the fact you can develop plenty in the reserves, and with the NEAFL improving as a competition, do you feel these guys can continue to improve in the reserves?

The myth or the popular consensus is the best way is to play them in the AFL. It is the best way, but if we don't think development is playing in the reserves, we're kidding. Rather than playing Sam Docherty at half-back, we've played him in the midfield. We've played Patrick Karnezis in the midfield but as a forward in the seniors. We get to do different things with them and play them in different positions and they don't even know they're developing. At senior level it's all about the result and performance. With reserves, at least you get time to work on things in their game. In the seniors, it's harder to because it's brutal, it's relentless and it's pressurised. They can pick up things and learn new tricks and then you put them back in the seniors and away they go again. It's not just all about playing senior footy to make progress.

For next year, do you see it as a case of natural progression to improve or is there something more?

I hope so. I think [physical performance manager] Brett Burton and his team have done a wonderful job over the last two pre-seasons. What Burts has done and the results he's got from a physical sense have been very good. We also know that another pre-season is going to do us wonders because of the group profile we have.

Last year poor fourth quarters were a big issue for you, you faded quite a lot, whereas this year it wasn't an issue.

I think we just have to get stronger in a few areas. We can start to look at guys specifically and see what they need. We've still got first- and second-year players coming through, but we have a couple of pre-seasons under their belt. We will start fit and healthy, which means we get another pre-season under our belt. Our guys at the end of this pre-season should have no qualms at all about being able to play the game at the intensity required. What we need is better execution and having strong fundamentals as a player is something we have to focus on. The knowledge and execution of our game-plan is something we have to get better at.

Skills - or lack of - has been a knock on the team for a while. Have you got the skill in your team and have you seen it develop?

Sometimes kicking efficiency can lie a bit, but we've gone from 15th or 16th to seventh in the competition for kicking efficiency. There's a couple of things we have to improve, like direct turnovers, our clangers. You have to figure out whether it was skill or decision-making or our team system not being executed. They have to all come together. One thing we tried to do across the year was we demanded players that came in could execute skills and I think we got an improvement as a result. One area we wanted to improve in was contested ball, that was pretty neutral. We improved a bit. We were horrendous in 2010, 2011 we improved, 2012 we improved again but still not where we were healthy. The one area that accelerated was our skills and that's pleasing because that's a pretty important fundamental.

Sometimes we look at numbers of clearances and contested possessions and they lie.

Pressure and efficiency are the two things you've got to have. If you've got a team structure that breaks down, but you've got pressure and efficiency, whoa, you're going all right.