Speaking to the media this afternoon John Longmire discussed a range of topics, including Paddy McCartin, debuts, defensive options and more ahead of our Gather Round clash with Richmond.
See all the key quotes and talking points ahead of Friday night.
On Paddy McCartin
“He’s in the club today, he’s feeling well. He still has some symptoms but he’s generally feeling ok. At the moment he’s just resting and recovering.
"Thinking any further than that is a step too far. The focus of everyone at the football club is family and for Paddy to make sure he recovers as soon as he can.”
On defensive options for Round 5
“Unfortunately, Aaron Francis and Will Gould didn’t finish the training session we had on the weekend. We’re still working through the availability of our players.”
On Lance Franklin
“Lance was a bit sore on the inside of his knee and we ruled him out yesterday. We’ll see how he is for next week, but the main thing is to get himself right over the next few days. Hopefully if he bounces back ok, he’ll be able to do some training next week.”
On playing Richmond
“Last week we had 22 more inside 50s than our opposition but we didn’t capitalise. We played some good footy last week; we just didn’t finish off our work. We want to continue to focus on what we did well but be more effective and efficient moving forward and make the most of our chances.”
On Corey Warner’s debut
“We’ve given an opportunity to Corey Warner this week who will play his first game of AFL footy. It’s exciting for him to get a taste and run out with his brother Chad and hopefully we can come home with a really strong result.
“He’s running capacity has always been at a really high level and he’s got a great mix of speed and endurance. He’s gotten bigger and stronger over the summer which was really noticeable when he came back.
“He’s been playing a number of weeks at our VFL level and been consistent and running hard and doing that two-way running that we like our players to do. He’s had shots at goal and he’s been putting in a solid body of work that warrants his inclusion this week.”
On Matty Roberts
“There’s a real likelihood he has a chance to play. He’s doing everything right, has done so over the preseason. He’s been terrific for us even though he hasn’t had a real go at it, he’s been subbed a couple of times and had a bit of a taste.
“The challenge at the moment is when you play that sub role for a couple weeks, they still need to have some match play. That’s what he did last week. But he’s been going well and has flexibility in his game.”
On Sam Reid’s injury
“We played our last practice game and felt his hamstring as he went to kick the last ball in the last quarter. We thought it was just a bit of fluid around the hamstring. It didn’t settle after a couple of weeks, and he got further advice that it was to do with the tendon and his nerves giving him trouble. He doesn’t run for another couple of weeks so it’s going to take a bit of time to get Sam into senior football selection.”
Watch the full press conference below.
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