Phill
MARK WILLIAMS: We were really pleased to get him back in. obviously having had a long path to get back from his sickness it was a real inspiration, so we talked about him before the game. we thought he played pretty well but obviously being only nine games into his career he has a lot of improvement in him and we look forward to him continuing that.--- Hi Mark, Chad Cornes is in arguably career best form at the moment - how much freedom do you give him to play where he wants to? He's always in the right spot at the right time!
paul
MARK WILLIAMS: He works very closely with Dean Bailey (midfield coach) and Matt Primus (ruck coach) in regard to positioning. We try to put him where he is going to be of most value – obviously the opposition are trying to stop him but most of the time we’re worried about he can do for us rather than what the others can do to stop him.
--- I noticed we lost the inside 50s and the clearances which have been two of our strengths this year. What did you put that down to and is it a good sign that we can win the game without winning those areas?
S. Arnold
MARK WILLIAMS: Well you wouldn’t want to bank on doing that too often. I still think when we went inside 50 we were quite efficient but as far as scores go but we certainly didn’t get our accuracy right so we’ll be back to the goalkicking again this week. Obviously they tried to stop us in the clearances. Every week they try to stop us and most weeks we’re pretty successful. Probably the most significant thing there was that Michael Wilson was out of the side for the first time and that might have just showed you his value around the ball.
--- Why do you think the greatest club on earth has been so successful this year?
Reg Harris
MARK WILLIAMS: Well we’re really pleased with the long-term decisions we made last year. We sent players like Surjan, Tredrea, Pettigrew, Motlop, Lonie for surgery earlier than we might have done. They’ve all come back and made a difference to our side. The injection of Nathan Krakouer has been significant for us. The experience some of the younger players got from 8 or 9 games last year was important for them too and has helped this year. If you add them all together it has made a difference and right now it’s working nicely.--- Mark, seeing how Richmond played against Geelong and the final result and Port playing Richmond this Saturday how will you get the boys up mentally for this game.
Michael Leckie
MARK WILLIAMS: Well it’s always a little bit of a challenge but everyone works on mentally keeping themselves up. The more games you win in a row, the more difficult it is but each week you play a new opposition and you face new challenges. There’s different opportunities for new players coming back from injury. Last week, Danyle Pearce and Daniel Motlop played significant roles in our win and that was great for us. Every indication from Monday’s training is that Dean Brogan should be available so we look forward to that. Other players will play different roles and have more opportunities to shine. Richmond beat us at home last year so we’ll be keen to get one back.
