Senior coach John Longmire appeared in a press conference on Tuesday, July 16 and answered questions from the media. See what he had to say on Justin McInerney and our Round 19 opposition.
On Justin McInerney
“He’ll be in a brace for a couple of weeks and then we’ll see how he goes from there. PCLs can be a bit unpredictable. It's at least a couple [of weeks] and how much beyond that, we're not sure. He’s a valuable player for us and he’s been outstanding for us this season. He’s improved so much and a critical part of our team.”
On his role within the team
“He's not an easy player to replace because he’s played in as many positions as I can remember a player doing so far in a season. Whether that's forward, inside, mid, wing, back. He's covered many different roles and been really flexible and done it with a great attitude. His footy this year has been fantastic. He's really been at a high level, and he gives us great flexibility.”
On Callum Mills and Luke Parker
“Luke's pulled up really well. He was in here running yesterday and pulled up really well. Millsy pulled up a little bit stiff from his first game, so we're hoping that by the end of the week he's a little bit better and feels pretty good. We also don't want to take any risks with him. We'll just see how the back of the week goes.”
On Round 19
“We’re pretty keen to keep our group together. We understand that we’ve got a big game this week against Brisbane, in Brisbane. They're a fantastic team. Last year's grand finalists. We want to go up and give our best account of ourselves. We need our best players playing. But we'll make those decisions later in the week in regard to availability.”
On tagging Lachie Neale
“We've tried that before and we haven't had any success. He played a game out here against us and did really well. We tried to shut him down… we'll have to take everything into account.
“He's going to find the footy no matter what you do. It's just a matter of what it looks like, what the rest of our team looks like this week as well, how the rest of the midfield group sort of work together.”
On returning players
“[Isaac] comes back in and he’ll be a very important player for us. Hopefully we get Harry Cunningham back in. They’re very important players for us."
On the Brisbane Lions
“We’ve got enormous respect for what Brisbane do. I think Chris Fagan’s a terrific coach and their players play a really strong, hard-branded footy. It's another chance for us to go back and test ourselves against an A-grade quality opposition.”
On tackling and recent game suspensions
“I think the question that will get asked is what we’re expecting our players to do, what is the game expecting them to do, and how that marries up and just go through the scenarios and see how it all works. Because I think the longer the year goes, the more things we're asking our players to do. And we've got to be clear, are they actually able to do those in every situation? I think that's becoming a little bit tougher to see.”
