On the GWS practice match

"It was good obviously after a long pre-season. That first game against proper opposition after facing ourselves was nice and everyone was gelling well. It was nice to get the ball rolling early."

On how Joel's body feels

"I think there's a lot of confidence in my body now. This is my seventh or eighth year in the system, so you get a bit bigger, a bit stronger and full of confidence, which is nice."

On making a comeback after the Grand Final

"You want your time to come quick so you can prove yourself again. I think that's sort of what we did a little bit on the weekend. [Last Friday] we gelled as a team perfectly. Everyone's in good spirits."

On his form against the Giants

"I wouldn't say it's form at the moment. It's just one week. Working with Tommy now, it's different this pre-season and all the forwards. I think we're just working well together. It seemed easy out there for us forwards with the mids and backs obviously up the field as well. It makes our life easy, but it's only one week. You've got to keep doing it. It's a long season, but it's one week after the other."

On Tom McCartin

"He's good. He's as he is when he's defending. He works hard and loves to compete and never gives up. He's a great teammate to have watching him from the other end, but now it's even better having him next to me."

On consistency

"It's everything in football. It's such a long 24, 25 games a year. If you play well for the majority of those, it usually ends pretty well for all the boys. It's the same with everyone in the whole team. You want to start well, get some wins on the board early, and that helps bank them towards the end of the year. Consistency is the main thing really."

On what Joel's worked on in the off-season

"For me, a lot of it revolves around my body, but there's always those little forward nuances that pop up, the leading patterns and the bodywork, contested markings. All those things go into it. Everything adds another 2% to your game. If you're 2% better every year, it ends pretty well. I think we've all worked on that."

On Callum Mills' injury

"Millsy is obviously champion of the club. He's always optimistic. He's back on the horse again already, and he's working to get back to that play day. He'll be back into training in a few weeks, and he attacks it as hard as anyone, so we've got full confidence in him to get back.

"You never don't see him. He doesn't hide away. When he's injured, he fronts up in front of everyone and helps us through. There's a lot more to footy than just what happens on the field. There's the other six days of the week where you need your captain and leaders to help everyone through, and that's what he does day in, day out."

What confidence Joel can bring into the 2025 pre-season

"You train a lot, but everything gets proven in game, so you just want to be able to perform each week, and there's no way to practice better for games than in games. You learn little things when you play some really good defenders and good defences and good teams. You learn, and then you get better each week, so that's where it's nice."

On this week's pre-season match against the Gold Coast Suns

"The start of the year is such a crucial part to bank those wins early... you need to have this hit out, go hard, work on our contested ball and our stoppages, and really gel as a team."

On the 2025 season

"I think everyone's got great confidence in each other and yourselves, and I think our team, we've gelled so much and come together as a group so much. Obviously the last couple of months hasn't been easy... Sometimes in the hardest times you gel as a group and as a team, so I think we're all happy to move forward and we're really looking forward to the season."

On Papley's injury

"He's working back into training over these next coming weeks and he still might be a test to play or might not play this week. But then he'll be fit and firing to go for the first game of the year."