Here's the key quotes from coach John Longmire as he spoke to media ahead of Sunday's Round 7 clash with Brisbane Lions at the SCG.

On Tom Papley:

He’s been training for 3 weeks, he trained flat out last week and trained again today and looked really sharp. If he gets through the rest of the week’s training, which we expect he will, he’ll be selected this week.

On Logan McDonald & Paddy McCartin:

They’re both fine, they’re both really good. They obviously go into the AFL concussion protocols and won’t play this week. Both of them felt good on the weekend, and on Monday after the game, but in relation to Paddy he’s feeling fine. Obviously, the complicating factor in this is the vision. What the vision doesn’t provide is context or background, and it leaves things open for interpretation without knowing the facts behind it.

The reality was that he felt fine, and even though a few people jumped to conclusions during the course of the game, he was actually really good. Firstly, he was just disappointed he couldn’t get back out onto the ground but secondly he knew that it would rule him out for this weekend’s game too.

Paddy actually felt terrific, his emotion was purely based on the fact that he was ruled out of the game and he knew he would miss this week. You can understand there’s a bit of anxiety with Paddy as well going into that concussion process given what he’s been through, particularly when he’s feeling good. He understands the doctors ruled him out, and we absolutely back our doctors in, but in the end that was the context behind the vision and I don’t think many people took that on board.

On Will Gould potentially coming into the side:

It’s only been a couple of years, Heath Grundy was on the list for five years before making his debut. I think we need to understand there’s a development process and everyone comes through at a different pace and we’ll look at what the team looks like this week and we’ll make the decisions we need to. Everyone comes along at a different pace, and they’ll play when they’re ready to play.

On who comes in for Logan and Paddy:

We feel like we’ve got a couple of options in our reserves at the moment. Sam Reid didn’t play on the weekend, Lewis Melican, Will Gould’s name was mentioned so we have some options there. We’re under no illusion we’re playing one of the in-form teams of the competition, a genuine top four team that has been up and around about the mark for the last few years. They are an absolutely quality side, particularly in their front half, and we understand we have a bit of work to do. We need to pick the right mix but ultimately we need to come out no matter who plays, and we need to compete really hard, and get out of the blocks a bit quicker than what we did on the weekend and understand it will be a really tough battle against Brisbane.

On playing Brisbane:

It’s a challenge every week AFL, there’s no such thing as a game that ranks higher in regards to being a bit easier than the other. On the weekend at the 15-minute mark in the first quarter we were in an absolute dog fight, and we expect to be in a dog fight against another quality team. It’s going to be a real battle, it’s exciting to be able to play it here back at the SCG and have our players play against Brisbane.

On the last quarter in Tasmania:

We felt like in the second quarter against Hawthorn we started to get the game back on our terms, we kicked one-goal-six and a couple out of the full so we didn’t get the reward, but we started to get the game back on our terms. Obviously the way we finished was very good but that game is done now, we’ve reviewed it, looked at both sides at what we did well and what we can improve on, but we’ve turned our attention really quickly to Brisbane this week. We’ll look at their strengths and look at the balance on what they do well and what we do well.

Injury update on Angus Sheldrick, Tom Hickey and Robbie Fox:

Angus Sheldrick had an operation on a cartilage, so he had a bit of work done on his knee so he will be out for a couple of months now.

Robbie Fox is coming back from a hamstring injury, he’s running, but he’s still a couple of weeks away.

Colin O’Riordan had an eye injury a few weeks ago, he’s back training now.

Tom Hickey is coming along really well. He’s remarkable, he trained today and looked good. I’m not sure what the rest of the week looks like for him. We won’t play him unless he’s ready to play, we’re not going to put him out there if he’s not ready to go, but he looks like he’s coming along really well. He’s really positive the way he takes his rehab and his injuries, which is half the battle.