Fly's presser:
It seemed like you were clinging on all day, but you kept fighting. Are you disappointed or happy with that?
"I said to the boys, we'd rather lose by 10 than die wondering. We just tried to keep coming at them and take more risk. Some of them paid off, and some of them didn't. Our fight has been there all year, it has been. Today was a little bit off in certain areas. Our contested ball was well down on what it has been. We want to fight right until the end, and rightly or wrongly you can judge that but that was our intent".
Tom Lynch was dominant in the first half, what was the thinking in the coaching box to stop his dominance?
"I felt that the ball would leave our D50, and then it would come back in and he would mark it. There are a couple of examples of how we can do that better. That's just attention to detail in terms of execution of what we want to do. He's a very good player. If you give him a leg rope, and he will run and jump and mark the ball. We're lucky he didn't kick a few more I think".
Did Darcy Moore need to tighten up. Is there anything else he could done?
"The way they were moving the ball and the way we were moving the ball out of D50 didn't help him. I would have thought Darcy will reflect on his game and look at things he can do better. Clearly Lynch got on top of him".
Illness was an issue again this week. How much of an issue today was it?
"I thought it was a more bigger thing last week. Last week we were coughing and spluttering coming into the game and we didn't even speak to the players last week. Did it help? No, but it wasn't an excuse. Early in the week, four or five of them didn't get to train. In terms of where it was compared to last week, it was nowhere near the same".
We saw that willingness to run through the middle, particularly in the second quarter. Did you go into the game with that plan because it wasn't working in the first quarter?
"I didn't think we were brave enough. Richmond defend the ground really well. They own the corridor and I thought we missed opportunities to go through there while we had chances. Sometimes it takes someone to be brave enough to go 'well I served a Richmond jumper', but I was still prepared to go there and take that on. I thought that we got that balance better in the second half. We're a dangerous team when we move the ball fast, and we want to move the ball fast to make the most of those opportunities".
Did you see the elbow that Jack Ginnivan copped to the back of this head at 3QT?
"No, I didn't see it.
What did you make of the matchup between Ginnivan and Daniel Rioli?
"Daniel Rioli is playing good footy isn't he. I've watched him for a number of weeks now in a new role and he's got a couple of scalps in the last few weeks. Jack's ability to keep competing is reflective of our group. We want to keep turning up and the scoreboard started to get away from us and you start to lose hope. We want to continue to be brave".
How's Jack Ginnivan handling the rising fame from a largely unknown player into a star?
"Taking it in his stride I think".
Does Jack Ginnivan have to be prepared for physical contact because of his outgoing personality?
"Anybody that's been in the competition for a long time realises that if you're playing good footy someone wants to take that away from you, they'll find a way to find a weakness. I think it's a part of Jack's growth. First and second year players get a bit more attention when they start playing well".
Aiden Begg has been good in his first two games, but how much of an impact is it having not being able to win the hit outs with Grundy being absent?
"I just thought they were a bit more seasoned, Richmond. I said to the players I just feel like that we’re eight rounds in, eight dates into a relationship, if you like, and they’re more like married with three kids. It really feels like that. Our group is learning how to play together and learning through our system and play their roles. You've also got youth vs experience in some parts of the ground; that's reality. I think we had six under-21 today. We look better in terms of the way we want to play in patches of the game. We just have to get better for longer".
Will you stick with that ruck combination even if you lose the hit outs most week?
"Last week we got smashed in the hit outs and won clearances. Today we got dominated in the hit outs and lost the clearances, so I think there's more to it than just that. Young Begg is a competitor. He's manning the mark there in the last quarter and he smothers the ball and follows it up. We love that in him. He's going to learn a lot from his second game".
https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/ ... 1908270001