You look to have the match in the bag early in the last quarter, where did you see it falling apart from there?
You've touched upon having so much success in your time as Collingwood coach with winning those close games. Is there something in particular that might have changed? You were lucky to hold on last week, but this week not so much."Isaac Heeney. He was pretty special wasn't he? Many parts, but he was amazing. I don't think I've seen a player impact a game like that in a quarter, unbelievable. I think the game is harder than ever to maintain a lead. Watching last week, Essendon did the same thing to Freo and you just go through it. We're having to go through that in the last couple of weeks of being in a position to win the game and then having to hold on. I'm just reflecting myself now without the vision in front of me. You're thinking maybe the method isn't the right one, but this is a competition thing. We started some stuff a couple of years ago that makes it really hard to hold on a lead. If you take enormous risk, and credit to Sydney they really got their game going from contest, and here we are".
You've taken longer in the rooms after a game than you usually would. Is that part of the devastation of losing a game like that and also what it means to your season overall?"They're all different situations. Last week it was Patrick Cripps and this week it's Isaac Heeney. Look, there's so many layers to that question. Chasing a lead versus holding onto a lead, I reckon most coaches would be sitting there right now going 'right, what do we need to do different because not many are doing it well?'. Last week we just hung on by fingernails and tonight we didn't. Again, we'll have some reflection around that".
What did you think of the non-decision with Daniel McStay. Do you think he should have been paid a 50m penalty?"It hurts, it really hurts. To play well and then let a game go like that, it hurts. I'm sure our fans at home are hurting, and we're no different. We're human. We have emotions to attach to this. It means a lot to a lot of people so we sat and reflected. It doesn't feel comfortable right now sitting in this chair because there's a lot at stake in these games isn't there?"
What sort of address can you give to the team after a night like this where you really needed the win to stay in the finals hunt? How do you give that to the team?"I reckon if it was at the MCG it would have been paid. There's definitely an advantage for a home crowd. I thought it was a 50m penalty to the letter of the law. I'm sure the AFL will come out and say it's a free kick/50m penalty. There were a lot of deliberates tonight too, that was a bit of a circus. I'm sure they'll come out and justify that too. Umpires don't always get it right, that's fair".
In these close games, you obviously have to do some things right like limiting the Swans ball movement for one. I think Darcy Cameron and Mason Cox were so influential in the air. What sort of role did you see them playing and how did they impact the game?"Difficult. Couple of things, we probably share in some inner stuff there. I think when you have a result like that, you speak about a couple of things. We've openly talked about what 'winning' looks like and behaviours like that, and then 'losing behaviours' and I think blame is a real 'losing behaviour' so I'm wrestling with that at the moment. Wrestling with trying to blame others or blame umpires or blame whatever because that's really difficult when you lose. We then talked about other things, good perspective. We had Harvey Harrison who looks like he's done an ACL today in the VFL so it put a bit of perspective on things. We lost a game and it may mean more than that, who knows but we talked a bit about perspective as much as it is hurting us. I've probably shared a bit more than I would like to around those things".
On Steele Sidebottom, a really good matchup on Errol Gulden who kept him under control for three quarters before Gulden impacted the game late. How did you see his performance and that matchup as a whole?"We invest a lot in Darcy [Cameron]. We trade Brodie [Grundy] out because we invest in Darcy and then he repays us not only to perform tonight, but he's had an incredible season. He's marking the ball like I've never seen he's marked the ball. We had a game plan around taking the marks away from the Swans and they're very good at that, so to keep them I don't know what they ended up with, but I know at half time they had 25 [marks] so that's a real low number. I know it was a bit slippery, but they had to find another way to beat us and good teams find another way to beat us and they did. I thought we executed our plan for most of the game really well. Again, we sit here hurting because we didn't quite get it done".
Do you think when it came to the crunch, the consequences of losing the game weighed too heavily on the players?"We were rapt with Steele's performance. He's [Gulden] an elite player of the competition. He [Gulden] starts up their ball movement a lot. They him moved around everywhere and he's ended up in the goal square late in the game. I thought Steele was really influential on the game not only stopping one of their best players, but also impacting the game at centre bounces and other parts. It was a terrific performance by him".
How do you approach the weekend with your percentage as it is and you wouldn't be too far out of reach to be out of finals contention. Do you watch it as a group or as a team or in small groups?"No, I don't think so. I think we're hurting because maybe there is consequences at the end that may cost us. Time will tell on that. I think we're just hurting because we performed well and let a game slip and didn't adjust and maybe handle moments like we can. I don't know. I just think this competition is such a hard one. There's small margins between everything. The Swans are a very good team, they're sitting on top for a reason. I know their form has slipped away a little bit, but it's very difficult to win away from home against the top team on the table. For most part of the night, we did a lot right and maybe that's what is hurting us the most. We didn't get the job done. Maybe that's why we're hurting".
You've spoken a few times this year about last year of being at the pinnacle on the top of the mountain. That obviously puts a target on your back with your team being the hunted. Sitting here 22 rounds in, how do you feel the club, the team and even yourself have dealt with that pressure of being targeted?"We'll just meet back early in the week and get on with it. We can't control what others are doing. You can only control your own destiny, your own behaviours. There's somewhat not an endpoint to that. If we're going to get better everyday, when does that stop? At the end of the home and away season? End of the pre-season? When does that ever stop? We've got a catch cry of 'get better everyday'. It's endless, so we've just got to continue to be that team. Sometimes you fall off the bike and you get up quickly or you fall off and scrape your knee and get up quickly, and other times it might take a day or so because you might have a bigger bruise. I'm hoping that by the time we get to back to work on Monday that we've got a few things that we can keep moving forward with".
"It's a challenge to stay on top of the ladder. The Swans are going through that. They've got a long way to go at the minute. It's probably not time to reflect on the whole season yet. There's still 2 more games that we want to do our fans proud in and perform at a higher level. I'm sure at the appropriate time we'll reflect on all those things. The things we can look back on and learn good lessons. This is probably one we're living right now is a really good lesson for us. Where it eventuates and expresses itself in the future, that's the unknown. This competition teaches lots of lessons. It's just whether you're ready to listen to them".
https://www.afl.com.au/video/1191475/fu ... 3211177001
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