We ask Magpie assistant coach Mark Neeld about Saturday’s match against Adelaide

Coming up against Adelaide, how does the club plan for players like Jared Petrenko and Taylor Walker, who clubs might not have seen much of in the past?
Mark Neeld -Our club has opposition analysts and we’ve been watching all AFL clubs at various stages throughout the summer months at training, as well as people that have watched them play in their NAB Cup or NAB Challenge games. So we were able to gain written information via that but also some video footage through the AFL.

What was the most disappointing aspect of the game against the Crows?
The most disappointing bit is the loss. After training all summer you obviously want to start with a victory. But the second thing is when you lose by such a small margin all little decisions and little skill errors are really, really important and you focus on everything. I think we had opportunities when we had the football in our hands to win the game and we were unable to take those and Adelaide had similar opportunities and at the end of the day they probably took one more opportunity than what we did and they won by less than a kick. You just feel, if we had have done just one little thing better, we could have won, and that’s the frustrating thing from a coaching point of view.

What was the pleasing thing from the weekend?
After the first quarter, when Adelaide had had 10 shots at goal to our two, we stuck at our task. We were able to claw back that lead and then put ourselves in a winning position.

When you were down by four goals at the first change, what did you concentrate on?
On getting the players and the structures in place that we wanted. We thought that the first quarter was pretty much played on Adelaide’s terms. They were able to implement the style of play and the structures that they’d rehearsed over the summer. So they played it their way. We wanted to wrestle back some of that ascendancy and play the game we wanted to play it and we felt that we did that to get back into the game.

Half-way through the third quarter you were three goals up. What happened from there?
The reversal of what we’d managed to do earlier. The style of the game changed again and Adelaide were able to get the game to suit them again. Then, in that last frenetic quarter, scoring was quite low and players were exhausted, it was round one, it was very hot and players hadn’t played under that pressure for quite a long time and it was a last-man standing affair.

Did you feel there was any particular turning point in the match or really significant moments in the match?
From our point of view the significant moment was the start that Adelaide got. I think that was fairly significant in the wash-up. When you lose by four points and in the first quarter the opposition’s had 10 shots at goals and you’ve only managed two, that would be the most significant part, for me.

What was it like in the coach’s box?
It was the same as always. Everyone has a role to play and Mick oversees the lot. We try to analyse our own little sections of the ground and provide Mick with information as to what was happening and how we could improve. In all honesty, it does not change and I believe a good coach’s box shouldn’t change whether you’re in front, behind or the scores are level. Clearly when we were behind there were probably a couple more suggestions as to things that could be done to improve the situation but that would be all.

What’s an area you’ll be focusing on this week ahead of the match with Melbourne?
I think there were certain parts of the game where we played the style we wanted and other parts where we didn’t, so we’ll be concentrating a lot on making sure that we play that way [this week] and not play our way for half a game. We want to make sure that the Collingwood play is evident for the majority of the game.

Who’s knocking at the door at senior level?
We look at the squad from last week and the emergencies from last week. Leigh Brown, Danny Stanley and Dayne Beams were emergencies, so they were part of our senior squad last week and you’d naturally look there. But there were also some really good performances in the VFL.
Also, we played 35 players in the seniors throughout the NAB series, so realistically I’d think that the 13 players in that group who didn’t play at the weekend would all be round about the mark. There’s no real standouts in my opinion; it would just depend on whether we want to shuffle the players around a little bit.
I would think there’d be a dozen players who, in their own mind, would be thinking they’d come in for strong consideration.