Summary:
* Yeah the Dees did come hard at us. Good to have a win after the Adelaide and Sydney games which were disappointing. Played some really good footy sort of in the first half. Dropped away in the second half and let the Dees back in it but good to get the win anyway.
* Richo
Best form Simmo has seen Richo in for a while. Plays everywhere - back, forward, kicking goals and really going for it. Hopefully he can keep it up for the year. Agreed playing midfield and down back that his field kicking has really improved and that's helped his goalkicking. The pressure is off him being that goalkicking forward. He can just float down.
* Why does our best and worst vary so widely? What has been done to improve that aspect?
Yeah it's something that's happening. We've had meetings on that issue. While on the ground it's hard to see exactly why it happens. Mental attitude thing. If we get 5-6 goals up you play the game off. If you drop of 1-2% the momentum can be taken away from you quickly. That seems to go through the team a little bit and we can't get it back our way again. On the weekend we had to fight hard for the win. It's a mental thing and it's something we are working on at training and talking about it.
* Is there one or two stats that stand out when we are playing well/poorly?
We're such a good contested team and when that's up all our other stats tackling, uncontested posies is up too. In the 3rd quarter we got annihlated in those areas. It's goes right through - we get beaten out of the centre and it makes it easier for the (opposition) forwards to take uncontested marks because we are 1-2% off.
* Tivs, Petts - how do they cope with the criticism?
Always a couple of guys under the gun. They've handled it well. All of them when they've gone back to Coburg, forgotten about the public scrunitny and played good footy. Everytime he's watched Given themselves a chance to get back into the team. Let's hopefully Kayne can keep playing good footy at Coburg.
* This year is a lot better than last year. Lats year was his worst year due to the injuries. Real opportunity in the second half of the year. Players have to stand up now and take control and get a few more wins on the board. We've played some very good teams in the first half of the year and although no game is easy we are playing sides now outside the top 8.
* We enjoy going over to Adelaide.... Christian interrupts you can't be serious - oh you mean to play footy. Port will be disappointed after their loss to Geelong. It'll be a good game with both teams having a lot to fight for. Port's running and pace are their strength. The team that can keep their defensive pressure up will win the game.
