“What we know of the five games so far is that Hawthorn and Geelong are the undefeated teams. Frankly I reckon the next ten clubs are pretty even. You could be third or fourteenth at the moment and look to be in a similar position.”
“I think there is a great evenness, except for Geelong and Hawthorn who have been the two dominating teams – but that’s only right at the moment. Things can change pretty quickly.”
On whether the club is looking for a big win this weekend against Melbourne:
“I certainly hope not. That is the greatest trap. I hope our players are mature enough not to fall into it.”
“We need to stick to the process and not the objective. The last thing you want to do is go out there thinking that you want to win by a big margin. It’s the process of getting the job done that needs to be firm in the players' minds no matter who you’re playing.”
“Melbourne played some good patches against Carlton but they’ve had an ordinary first five weeks – we all know that. But we will approach this game the same as any other. We’ll review the previous weekend to find out what we can learn from it and then apply it to Melbourne. The only thing that changes is the opposition.”
“The opposition hasn’t had good recent form, but need to make sure that this week isn’t the week that they start having some good form.”
On players who have been performing well in the reserves:
“Mitch Clark’s now played two games in the reserves but the position that he traditionally plays in is currently occupied by Daniel Bradshaw.”
“We will probably look to use Mitch at centre half-forward or centre half-back. Mitch and Lachlan Henderson are the two most likely at the moment who will play through those roles.”
“Scott Harding played very well – he’s doing really well. We’ve deliberately played him, James Polkinghorne and Albert Proud up forward at times in the reserves because if they do well in that small forward role it gives them another string to their bow.”
“Tom Collier played his first match after hurting his hamstring and he’s another very impressive youngster.”
