Suns coach Damien Hardwick spoke to the media post game.
On the match:
I thought our defensive stuff was pretty good. We had pressure 1.94 which is a number that doesn’t mean a lot,but I felt we were in their grill all night,which is really important. It’s the way we wanted to play the game. Kept that ball pinned in the front half. We have still got some work to do in a number of areas but we are really pleased with the overall system and how it’s stacking up. More importantly how the players are adhering to it and starting to get a great understanding of why and how. That was pleasing. 30-odd shots at goal too was great. There was a lot to like. There is still some frustrations. As a coach we are always looking for perfection,not going to get it,but we will always try and chase it. There are certainly areas we can improve.
On second gamers like Will Graham playing big roles:
It is exciting. It creates a contest. That’s the sort of player that you love to have in your footy club. To see the amount of times he looked out of the contest and put his head down and tackled and chased,that’s the kind of player we are trying to build our club on the back of. We are pretty fortunate we have had that DNA for some time. What we are trying to bring is the implementation of the system as well. I was really pleased with his game. He was outstanding last week and even better this week. He is probably one of those guys that will sneak under the radar but every chance of being a really,really long-term player for us.
At the risk of not going through every player like Clohesy and him,what did you think of Clohesy?
He is terrific again. His ability to find space,use the ball and to finish. He is a beautiful long kick as well. I think I said the same thing last week,he comes in at 21 years of age,had really good coaching at Werribee. Readily admits he wasn’t quite ready to play AFL,but he has learnt his craft. Ultra impressive over preseason. We are really fortunate our scouts saw something that they really,really like. Cal Burns and his team did a wonderful job of identifying that talent that will had us. He’s been wonderful his first two weeks.
First probably true four-quarter performance?
I think so. We have had various other games where we played pretty well but dropped a quarter and dropped it quite badly. The situation tonight,I think in the third,where they got those couple of goals and they were goals we probably could have controlled. For the guys to stand up,get the momentum or arrest momentum and start the momentum going back our way was really important. We are going to go through those at various stages. It’s important guys understand to get the game going back our way. Credit where credit is due,for us we played really well. We are playing against a side that is up against it with injury,if that makes sense,but they fought hard. One thing I think Sam has got them doing is they are playing a smart,tough brand of footy to coach against. We had our work cut out for us,although the scoreboard will say it looked easier than it was. It was tough at various stages throughout the night.
More highlight reels from Mac Andrew tonight.
Yeah. He does really,really good things. He is a magical player. If he continues to work hard,understand how important he is to our side and understand what level he can get to I think he will be a very,very special player,not only for us,but within the league. He can get distracted by the off-ball stuff. That’s an area of growth for him. What is he,21 years of age. He will only get better once he gets a good understanding of what makes him a great player. And works on those and just worries about that. He had another really good game tonight.