Round 9 discussions with the Footy Department

Round 9 didn't go our way. With injuries and trying conditions for our first clash of the season with the reigning premiers, there are questions about what happened to our form and what this means for the rest of the season.

Hear what the Football Department have to say about the loss to Subiaco. 

Not an ideal result on the weekend. What do you think happened?

We obviously played in the same conditions as Subiaco, so we can’t make any excuses for the weather impacting our performance. In saying that, there was no rain in the first quarter when Subiaco were kicking with the wind. When we had the wind, we also had the rain and a lack of visibility. The conditions were definitely trying, but we won't hide behind that as an excuse.

Subiaco ran harder and applied pressure so we couldn’t make the scoring opportunities we needed. When we did get scoring opportunities, we were let down by an inability to score.

There wasn’t a complete failure to respond, but we were outworked.

Losing Byrne within 10 minutes of the first quarter, then Belly at the half time mark left us in a tough position. When you’re up against a quality side like Subiaco, you need all of your rotations.

What can we take from the Round 9 match? Any key learnings?

We certainly know what the best team is like now. There is no debating that we still have a way to go to be able to compete with the best.

The key areas to improve on have been reviewed and will be a focus at upcoming trainign sessions.

No one is resting on their laurels. We aren’t making excuses and are working toward playing our best football consistently across all four quarters.

We remain third after the weekend. What impact do you see this round having on our season?

Losing 13% hurts. This percentage could be a big factor come the end of the season. 

Hopefully the injuries don’t take too much of a toll either.

Overall, our season is still positive. At the beginning of the season, if we knew we’d be 6 – 3, we would be happy with where we’re at.

What effect do you think the upcoming bye will have?

The bye has come at a great time for us. We have two weeks to regroup and refresh. This time will be spent learning from the previous rounds and getting bodies and minds ready for Round 11 adn the rest of the season.

We’re in the process of conducting all midseason reviews and will be using these two weeks to make sure we’re back on track.

We talk a lot about mental agility and team culture. After this kind of result, how is the team addressed? What is done to rebuild and prepare for the next match?

We don’t really do anything too different. Like with any game, we go through a complete review and debrief process that will highlight key areas to focus on.

We’re working closely with the leadership group to ensure they’re equipped to get the boys ready for the next round. As a younger side, we’re still maturing and need to focus on building up and supporting the boys.

The depth of our side is encouraging moving into the second half of the season and we look forward to bringing it home in Round 11.