BILL GETS GRILLED – BILL MONAGHAN ROUND 2 Q & A

WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan discusses the Round 2 win over Perth at HBF Arena and looks ahead to facing Subiaco this Saturday for the International Football Festival back at HBF Arena.

QUESTION: It was a tough start in difficult conditions that suited them perhaps a little more, especially Clint Jones, but it seemed once it cleared up a little you were able to get on top?
ANSWER: First of all, Perth are going to be improvers this year. Where that leads them and when you've only won two games the year before you don't need much to be improvers, but they've now got some real good top-end talent. They have a reigning Sandover Medallist, the early favourite for the Sandover Medal in Jones, an ex-AFL ruckman in Graham and Spencer White who was touted as the next 'Buddy' Franklin at one stage. Plus they have some really good kids of their own Bell, Leggett and McKenna so they have a quality outfit. They are going to test a lot of sides and it was a bit of an arm-wrestle. We were probably a little down on confidence from last week and it took us a little while to get going, but the good thing was we were competitive and didn’t let the game get out of hand. But last week we were five or six down at half-time. In the end, we didn’t have a fit person on the bench and Duffy probably should have come off in the second quarter but we got another 20 minutes out of him in the third quarter. Keunen got a significant knock on his knee from a slide-in tackle, Manning was off injured and Kerr had a slight issue with his back. We were really running on empty and challenged early in the last quarter with them getting two goals but to have five unanswered goals basically without a rotation was a really good effort from our players.

Q: Can that sort of thing be the making of a season having to find a way to win against adversity after a tough Round 1?
A: That's hard to say, all I know is that we were disappointed in our efforts last week. South were very good and they have won again this week so they actually might be the real deal, it's a little too early in the season to work out but they have had two solid victories. We were a little bit off and they were very good. It's not about if it's good or bad for us, but we came into this game with one major focus and that was on improving our attitude, effort and ability to hunt the ball and be competitive. I think we saw that so we should be better for that, where that takes us and what it means in the big scheme of things, I don’t know. All I know it was a significantly improved attitude and we got the four points which is what's important.

Q: Tyler Keitel was terrific down back and helping in the ruck. And seemed to have a real physical impact out there too?
A: Tyler's a really good kid. He came into last season obviously with a lot of media exposure and that's never good for a kid who has never played senior footy and is straight out of colts. He didn’t do a pre-season and he's a big kid so he is still growing into his body, but he has worked extremely hard in his last 12 to 14 months here. He knows there are certain areas of his game he needs to get better at and we are working hard with him on that. We, and he, were both disappointed last week in some of his physical contests and he made a statement during the week at training and followed it up. The other thing with Tyler was that his ruck work when he needed him in the last quarter and a bit was outstanding. I thought he was in our best couple.

Q: You need people to step up in the absence of Shane Nelson in the middle, and Aaron Black and Trent Manzone did?
A: Blacky's second half in particular was outstanding. I would have thought as good as Clint Jones was and I wouldn’t downplay 45 possessions, that's a fairly decent day at the office, but I think Aaron Black probably with his second half was the most influential midfielder on the ground. I thought he had some great allies. The work that Lynch and van Berlo are doing on the inside, and Manzone did a bit of inside and outside so he has a good balance to his game. Aaron really lifted and he is a fantastic player, and we needed him and he delivered so I'm really proud of those efforts.

Q: Of the guys battling injury, would Kody Manning be the most doubtful to get up to play Subiaco?
A: A couple of them have had scans and a couple will be doubtful, but we aren’t sure just yet. I've asked the players to make sure they look after themselves. Kody went home straight after the game and had his leg up in ice so he did everything he can to get himself right. I would say that there are four injuries there that will make them at best 50-50 to play.

Q: Good thing is if Chris Keunen doesn’t get up, Seva Mozhaev is ready to go after 61 hit outs in the reserves?
A: Sev's been probably a little unlucky not to play both weeks. This week he could have nearly come in but the weather probably didn’t help. We think Mark Hamilton probably lost his spot due to the weather conditions too so he can easily come in. We had to look at the opposition and how many talls they have, but Tyler was very good in the ruck and we have Nick Rodda. But if Chris doesn’t play, I would suggest Sev will start in the ruck but we have some other options around that as well.

Q: He would be especially excited to come in against Subiaco?
A: It was funny, I mentioned to him on Thursday that the weather wasn’t helping him and he told me that we will need two ruckmen against Subiaco so he's already into me. He is pretty keen to play but we will make some choices based on the opposition, the weather and how we think we might be able to combat Subiaco's strengths and try to expose the very few weaknesses they've got. If that means Sev plays he plays, and if we don’t think it will help us then he won't play. But if Chris doesn't play you would bet that Seva would play.

Q: Joel Leeson and Keegan Knott had shaky starts in their first games for the club, but both looked good this week?
A: There's probably a lot of ways you could describe the way they went last week and they were probably in a group of about 16 or 18 who were anywhere from terrible from embarrassing. They were both very good this week. Keegan was lively and Joel's attack on the footy for a guy who isn’t overly tall or big-framed was very good. I'm really pleased with those two and we are expecting a bit more of a lift from Duffy. Unfortunately he pulled up fairly sore early in the game and he was probably gone by quarter-time in real effect but it was good to see Keegan and Joel play better this week.

Q: Looking forward to a crack at Subiaco this Saturday?
A: A lot will probably be made of it with a lot of questions asked about revenge and motivation from the grand final the previous year. We know we're 1-1 and they are 2-0, and the competition is going to be tight so we need to make sure we are at our very best every week. I watched Subi live again on Friday and they just have a great will to compete and find ways to kick goals. They are going to be tough but our motivation won't be grand final losses, it will be to be at our very best and if we are we think we'll be competitive.

Q: It's a big day for the club with it being the International Football Festival as well and it's on TV again?
A: It's our second game in three weeks on TV, we are really not sure on Channel 9 minus two. I just thought of that one. The International Round has really developed into one of the showpieces of WAFL footy. On a fine day we are hoping to get 7 or 8000 people to the game. It's great for the players and there's a bit of uniqueness around the jumper we were and it's good to play against Subiaco given they are our closest geographical neighbour, and we share boundaries in our zones and they have a strong multicultural contingent like we do. It's a big day for our footy club and we hope everyone gets down here as we aim to put on a good show.