Senior coach John Longmire spoke with journalists on Wednesday (March 22) to provide an update on the team ahead of Round 2.
See all the key quotes.
On player’s recovery
“They’ve all pulled up really well. There was certainly some elevated game time because we had a player go off and player injured at the same time but they’ve all recovered well. They trained this morning and had a good session on the SCG. It’s good to be back."
On Peter Ladhams
"He is pretty important for us at the moment and he had some good time so we thought we’d give Hayden McLean a go in the ruck."
On the group's mood following the Round 1 win
“It’s good. We went in with some areas we wanted to focus on against the Gold Cost Suns – they’ve played well against us the last couple of times. We were able to execute those plans with intensity and pressure on the ball carrier which is something we like to have against any opposition. That really set our game up for the whole night. We’ll be trying to do the same thing against the Hawks this week.”
On a replacement for Lance
“We’re working through whether we go small, or bring in a Joel Amartey-type player. Sam Reid won’t be available to play. Logan McDonald will play again this week – he’s an important player in our front half.”
On the team’s Round One performance
“It wasn’t about the end of last year for us. It was about beating the Gold Coast Suns and that was really about the type of football we wanted to play. We were able to get that for the majority of the game. The challenge in this industry is that you have to do it again every week. We’ve got to make sure we execute again this week.”
On the ruck
“We’ve got Lachlan McAndrew who’s a young ruck.... He’s being going well throughout our preseason games and he played well on the weekend as well. He’s available to play if needed but we’re pleased with Peter and he’ll play an important role in the next few weeks.”
On Tom Hickey and Sam Reid’s injuries
“Hickey is still around five weeks away – Round 5 or 6. Reid is a few weeks away. We want to get him some good training under his belt before we play him.”
On Matty Roberts
“He’s right in the mix for the top 22. It will depend upon what players we have available and if our senior squad are out for any reason. We’re confident in how he’s going.”
On the players that stood out in the VFL
“A few of the younger guys played. Angus Sheldrick was able to get some game time in – he was an emergency player for us on the weekend. We feel that over the next three or four weeks there will be some game time available for the players coming back from injury as well as the younger guys that are tracking really well."
Watch the full press conference below.
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