On Dane Rampe re-signing with the Swans
“He means so much to the club. He went through four drafts and wasn’t drafted and went to Melbourne to try and further his career. He came back to Sydney and we picked him up on the rookie draft. I remember the first 3km time trial he did and it was outstanding. He’s a local boy, a NSW boy and ever since we put him in the team he’s been outstanding. A massive competitor and critical leader for this club on and off the field. He’s got a great balance of when to be serious and has some fun along the way. He’s a very important member of this footy club.”
On an injury update
“Lance is okay. He had training yesterday and we’ll see how he pulls up tomorrow. We have our main session tomorrow and we’ll see how we goes. I’ve been on the record saying we wouldn’t have played him in the first half of the year as much as what we did if we had some options. We had some injuries to our key forwards in Joel, Sam and Logan… But we’ve put together a program and hopefully he’ll be able to be managed and when he plays, he plays some really strong football.”
On Lance Franklin missing Round 15
“If Lance is ready to play, we’ll play him. He missed last week and if his knee feels 100 percent he’d be playing. We saw what West Coast did a couple of weeks ago against Collingwood. They scored 14 points just before three quarter time and had virtually had the same amount of inside 50s in an away game. They’ll get a number of players back in their team this week so as we do.”
On Isaac Heeney and Tom McCartin
“They’re going ok. They’ve been doing a number of training sessions. Heeney if he gets through tomorrow we expect him to be able to play. Tom has been out for a lot longer, he’s been training, so hopefully he gets through the session tomorrow and feels good about that. Logan McDonald, Callum Mills and another couple of players we’re waiting to get through training and pull up well. We’re making sure we look into their individual programs to see what they have done over the period and working out how we fit them in the team as far as managing them on a game day. It’s about getting that balance right.”
On absences affecting focus
“Different teams go through it at different times. Last week we had a number of players that were different from last year but you deal with and you adapt and make sure you put the best team forward you possibly can. We’re confident this week that we have a strong team and be able to get some of that synergy going. We’ve had a few changes every week and hopefully we’re able to get some stability back into the team.”
On the rest of the season
“We want to win this week. That’s the most important thing for us, is focussing on this week and being a bit more consistent as we we’ve spoken about a number of times this year.”
On Angus Sheldrick
“He’s a real competitor. He’s still learning the different styles of playing AFL footy and what’s required. But what we do know is he goes out every week and when he’s on the ground he competes really hard which is a good starting point. He’s very early in his career. You’ve got a midfield group in Chad Warner and Errol Gulden and to see him come through is pleasing.”
On the return of key West Coast players
“They’re good players, we’re talking about premiership players. Hopefully we’ll get good players back as well and we can go into the game and look forward to a good contest.”
On discipline
“A couple of times it has been young players getting positioning on the mark wrong. The week before we gave away two 50s for getting that wrong… we just have to be sharper in those instances and ensure we’re mentally sharp to not give away those free kicks. When you’re under fatigue it’s making sure you keep your concentration up. That’s what we’ve been talking to the players about.”
On the West Coast Eagles rivalry
“It’s not so much about the rivalry, it's about understanding what [West Coast] are capable of. They’re capable of playing some good footy and a couple of weeks ago we saw that. They had a lot of late outs, they’ve been ravaged by injury and they get some premiership players back this week… But we’re also focussing on what we need to do. That’s really important.”
On the challenges of coaching
“Every season has a different challenge. We went through COVID for a couple of years… all these types of challenges have come up. When you’ve been in the game a long time you understand every season is a different journey and this years has been a bit different than some others but in some ways the challenges are similar. You deal with the cards that are put in front of you.”
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