His goal at the end really provided a fairytale finish. Clarko made the call to get him forward to try to kick a goal and Rick Ladson was really selfless in making sure that it happened. He could have blazed away and had a shot at goal himself but as soon as he saw Shane he was determined to nail him with a pass.
It was such a great scene to see all the players run over to congratulate him. It was a reflection of what he means to the playing group and the coaching staff. He’s one of the most genuine guys you could ever meet. He’s a terrific person and he’d do anything for anyone. He’s a real character around the club, so it was a fitting finale for that game.
Buddy’s six majors brought him to within nine goals of the ton. The odds are it’s going to happen at some stage but as a coaching staff and even in the playing group, it’s the furthest thing from our minds.
As for talk of a ground invasion when he does kick his 100th, he’s pretty resilient. He’ll just take it on the chin and move on. He’ll take it in his stride and look to kick his next goal.
We were again impressed with the performance of Cyril Rioli. We’ve been pleased with his performances this year and not only his contributions to the scoreboard. More importantly he’s in the top 10 goal assists in the League, which is an enormous credit to him and his work rate and his unselfishness as a player. He’s contributed in every game he’s played in.
With only three rounds left to finals time, we don’t allow the guys to get distracted. We’ve got KPI (key performance indicators) areas that we want to meet every game and we really drive those as coaches. We still have areas of our game that we’ve got to improve. We’re constantly trying to improve.
