BILL GETS GRILLED – BILL MONAGHAN ROUND 19 Q & A

WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan discusses Saturday's win over Perth including what he did and didn’t like, an update on Matt Guadagnin and looking ahead to this Saturday's clash with Subiaco at Kingsway Reserve.

QUESTION: You controlled pretty much every area of the game and won quite comfortably, what do you take out of it?
ANSWER: It was a pretty ugly game I thought at times. When we were able to link a bit of possession up we looked dangerous but at the end of the day Perth battled hard and they have really improved. They've got some good quality all over the park so it's not an easy game to play against them. We got the points and sometimes you get the points when things don't go exceptionally well. Last week against East Perth in the rain we won probably every category but lost the game. You take the good with the bad.

Q: Anything you were especially happy with?
A: I thought Jay van Berlo was outstanding through the midfield. Shane Nelson continued to rack up possessions and down back Joe Morrow and Blake Wilhelm were very good, but probably the most pleasing thing was that Lourey and Duffy were able to hit the scoreboard a little bit more. I think they kicked eight goals between them and it could have easily been 10 or 12 at the end of the day. They haven't always consistently kicked multiple goals so it was good that they both looked really dangerous.

Q: Joel Leeson would have enjoyed kicking those two last quarter goals to seal the win against his old team?
A: Well he does have a pretty sore nose after a bit of a head clash with Cody Leggett near the end of the game. Joel didn’t get a lot of the footy and he was a little disappointed with that, but some of his crumbing work and pressure acts were outstanding. Joel's brought a lot to the side and he was pretty unheralded when he got here after playing 49 games for Perth. But he works hard and does everything that we need him to do so he is doing everything we ask of him.

Q: Probably Chris Keunen's best game in the ruck since his broken leg?
A: Chris will be the first to admit that he's struggled a little bit, but he's missed a fair bit of footy. Unlike a lot of our other injuries he wasn’t able to run because of the broken bone in his leg. He is coming from a fair way back even though he's played five or six games now, and he's slowly getting better. I don’t think he's playing at the standard either him or I are happy with, but it was an improvement and I still think there's a fair bit of improvement to go.

Q: It keeps you in the hunt for a top two spot?
A: Obviously we'd like to finish one or two, but what we are chasing is a top three finish. It's probably going to be a stretch for us to break into the top two because of the percentage gap between the top two and us, and because South Fremantle has a softer draw leading into the finals than most I would have thought. We will battle away and if we come third, we come third and I'll take that after being 1-4 after five rounds. We weren’t really thinking top three at that stage so we are rapt to be in that position now winning 10 of our last 12 games, but we also know we have to improve a fair bit more to test the sides above us.

Q: Good to see Matt Guadagnin get through a half in the reserves on his return?
A: Guady means a lot to our side not only with his football ability but his leadership and direction. For a guy who hasn’t played footy for more than 12 months, I thought the way he handled the ball and used the ball was exceptionally good, albeit in a reserves game. There's a little bit of romance about his story and we'll play it by ear. If he's in good enough form after some full reserves games, he'll be selected. He knows he isn't a walk up start and he's coming from a long way back, but we know he'll be fresh.

Q: How big now is Saturday's game against Subiaco at Kingsway?
A: It's always a challenge when you take on the top side. They are a couple of games clear of us and not only are they the top side this year, they've won the last two premierships. They have a lot of quality all over the park and are big and strong. It will give us a good gauge of where we're at, but if we play at the same intensity that we did this week or with the same style we won't win against Subi. From all reports the people at Kingsway have done a wonderful job to get the ground in great nick. It's one v three so I think a lot of people should get there and it should be an exciting game, but we just need to play better or else I don’t think we can win.