Blake Caracella: It is a cause for concern and we need to put our finger on why and fix it pretty quickly, especially against Geelong because you don’t want to play poorly for a quarter or you’ll find yourself quite a bit down at quarter-time and find it very hard to get back into the game against a team like that. There’s no doubt we need to address that.
On Saturday, you looked a far more comfortable side from late in the second quarter onwards. What turned the tide your way and made the difference?
Being the opposition coach I’ve actually been looking more at Geelong and haven’t had a chance to look too much at the video of our game yet. Being a five-day week and short turnaround I’ve been studying them more and haven’t gone into as much detail about our game as the other coaches probably have, but there’s no doubt in the second half our centre clearances were much better. We were able to get the ball straight out of the middle with far more efficiency and therefore able to score far more effectively.
So, given you’re the opposition coach, how exactly does your role work when this week’s opposition was playing at the same time?
I go to all our games plus the teams that we’re going to play against in the upcoming week. My job is to speak to Mick [Malthouse] and I guess watch the opposition team, to see what they’re doing, see what historically they’ve done in the past, what they might do from quarter to quarter, and tell Mick what they’re trying to achieve.
Saturday was one of the couple of clashes we have for the year, so I have a helper who went down to Geelong to watch their game. I’ve been busy this week catching up!
What was the most pleasing thing from the weekend’s game – apart from getting the four points?
I guess the biggest thing we could take out of the game is that it seems a few of the players have continued to improve from last year. I think Jack Anthony had a fairly good game, kicking four goals. He’s taken some really good marks this year and he’s continuing to improve.
I think if you look at the overall scores for the year, we’ve got the third-best defence so far in the competition.
Also I think Brad Dick having his first game in over a year was fantastic; it was great to see him run around again. While he started fairly quietly I think he improved as the game went on … and Dayne Beams played his first game.
Tell us about Dayne Beams. What did he bring to the side?
He’s going to be a very good footballer. He’s only young but I think he’s got a very good awareness and know-how when playing football. He knows what to do when the ball’s in his hands; he knows where to go to get the ball and he’s certainly strong for a young player as well. So he’s got a lot of attributes that make a good player and with a bit more experience playing at senior level and he gets used to the tempo and pressure he’s going to get better and better.
Do you think his inclusion and first-up success will inspire the match committee to promote more youngsters throughout the course of the year?
I think since I’ve been at the footy club Mick’s shown that he’s very open to playing youth. Last year we played a lot of young players and the year before we did as well. I think that’s where the future of the club lies and when they’re ready they’ll get their chance.
What challenges does a five-day turnaround present for the coaching staff?
Obviously we have to do our homework a bit more quickly because we need to squeeze our preparation into five days. There’s also less training, there are fewer meetings so you need to be really acute with the information you provide for the players.
Then of course the players need to refresh their bodies and minds and get ready for a game again in just five days. Mostly it’s just about doing maybe a bit less but doing it well.
The side copped a bit of a touch-up at the hands of Geelong only a few weeks ago. Does that need to addressed in any way ahead of Thursday’s game?
I think when you lose by that much, things certainly need to be addressed. We’ve sat down as a match committee and spoken about things that didn’t work well and some things that did work well, believe it or not.
I think we’ve proven over the last couple of years that we can push Geelong; we beat them last year and weren’t far off in the preliminary final the year before.
We also had some players out in the NAB Cup grand final and some players that were underdone who played in that game as well, so things are going to be a little bit different this week, or hopefully significantly different so we can turn the tables.
You’d be hesitant to make too many changes to a team that’s won by nine goals, but are there some guys knocking on the door for senior selection?
With a short turnaround if there’s some guys that are sore or that haven’t quite recovered then we’re quite open to playing new players. We’re not going to carry any tired or injured players into Thursday.
Anthony Rocca played three quarters in the reserves last week and he’s right to go. He’s fresh and he may come in.
Daisy Thomas should be over his gastro, too. It was only a 24-hour thing and he was just unlucky to cop it on game day against Melbourne.
