Senior coach John Longmire appeared in a press conference on Tuesday, July 2 and answered questions from the media. See what he had to say on Round 16, Harry Cunningham and our midfield.
On Round 16
“We went away from a few of the things that we value. Obviously one of those being we wanted more pressure on the game in the first quarter than what we did. It forced us into a position of chasing. We didn't quite get there. We were pleased to give ourselves the opportunity and that's always a positive to come out of the game.
“We've still got some things in our game out of the weekend that we need to improve, our clearance in our first half. The consistency that we've been having up until now, we just dropped off a little bit on that.”
On Fremantle’s defence in the midfield
“I think every team tries to put pressure on the ball carriers and that's what we try and do to the opposition. I'm not sure there was a lot of difference in what everyone tries to do. We'll try to do the same thing against St Kilda this week… Put some real heat on and around the ball, get our pressure numbers up.”
On Logan McDonald
“He's okay. One of the things you learn is just to stick to your routine. That's what you've got a routine for. I spoke to him immediately after the game. We haven't touched on it again this week because we've moved past it.
“That's what the routine is for, in those moments. He'll learn from that. He'll be fine. It certainly wasn't the sole reason we lost the game.”
On Hayden McLean
“He was a bit sore for a few weeks so he didn't do a lot of training. He's back training now. He's able to put together a bit more consistency in his performance, which is always a good thing. That's what we're hopeful of and mindful of. That's what he's striving for, that consistency.
“He took six contested marks. He had a real presence. Both as a young key forward, but also as a ruckman. That was a real positive to come out of the game. Even when we weren't playing that well earlier, he was a real presence.”
On the challenges of a winning streak and pressure
“I think that's just the demand of the game. It's something that's required every week, no matter what part of the year it is. Round 1, Round 22, finals, it's the halfway point of the year - it doesn't really matter. We need to make sure that we really action it on game day. That's the most important thing.”
On Harry Cunningham
“He won't play this week, so he'll probably miss the next two weeks. It’s just a really small hamstring strain, so he's going to miss the next two weeks. He's been such a terrific player for this footy club for a long time, playing in multiple roles. He started off playing a half forward, he's played wing, he's played a lot of football down back.
“He's a real stalwart of the footy club and really experienced. He's got great speed, great game knowledge. So, he'll get there.”
On the return of Luke Parker and Callum Mills
“We will address that next week. We can talk about the plan, but we haven’t got all the information. We’ll get through this week and make a call on what next week looks like.”
On Isaac Heeney and Chad Warner injecting themselves into Round 17
“They’re competitors. They come out and want to compete and want to get better. It's unusual that they were quiet all at once. We're so long into the season, so that was unusual… We come against the Saints midfield this week. It'll be a challenge. We need to get it done.”
