BILL GETS GRILLED – BILL MONAGHAN ROUND 7 Q & A

WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan discusses Saturday's trip to Kulin that resulted in a thrilling seven-point win over Claremont and looks to this Saturday's clash with Peel Thunder at HBF Arena.

QUESTION: How was the trip to Kulin and it's obviously made better by coming away with the four points?
ANSWER: It's always fantastic to get into the country areas. We don’t necessarily jump up and down when we see the fixture, but once we get out there we have a greater appreciation for the country areas and how much work they do, and you learn a bit of history of their club and the players they have produced for our club and the AFL. It's a great experience and it gets the young kids out of their comfort zone so it's really well worth the trip and it was an enjoyable day. And obviously winning beer tastes better than losing beer.

Q: Obviously more has gone right the last two weeks than just getting Shane Nelson and Kody Manning, but Nelson for two weeks and Manning for one now have made a significant impact?
A: Nelly had 13 clearances against Swans and another eight or nine this week. His ability to win the ball around the stoppages is something we've been missing. Most of the other guys we've been playing are very similar in speed and the way they attack the footy, and we were asking Jay van Berlo and Aidan Lynch to do the job of Shane Nelson. That's not the style of footy they play and we don’t have another like for like player at our club, and most WAFL clubs don’t. He's brought obviously his great ability back into the team but players have greater belief that they have someone there who is going to help them win the ball. We all grow a little bit when Shane plays and he's been fantastic. Whether from the outside he has the same standing as he has in here, Kody is one of the first guys picked every week if not the first when he's fit. He has great versatility, great attack on the contest and the man with the ball. We were rapt to have him in and he just gives us that little bit of a hard edge. 

Q: You have been looking for ways to kick goals and it worked well on Saturday with Andrew Strijk kicking four in the first half and Joel Leeson four in the second?
A: Joel has slowly been improving this season like Max Duffy and Keegan Knott even though he's unfortunately been relegated to the reserves over the last two weeks. We had only been averaging about 35 inside forward 50s a week over the first five games so it wasn’t easy to play in the forward-line, but we've averaged 55 the past two weeks. Obviously the more supply you get in there the greater chances guys have to kick goals. Joel has been fantastic and kicked seven over the last two weeks and Strijky went forward this week and kicked four, and for an elite kick like him he could have kicked six or seven. But we might set exceptionally high standards for him and he might be 70 metres out on the boundary with eight blokes on him and we think he should kick the goal. He did miss a couple of shots that Andrew Strijk, or classy players, should have got but the move of him forward obviously worked. We also wanted to release another couple of guys back and play a slightly different game style, but we'd like to think when Matt Johnson gets back up and running, when Corey Chalmers gets up and running and Keegan Knott gets form that we've got a good blend with our small forwards. We do need to get the ball there and move it in a certain way for those guys to be effective though.

Q: A couple of weeks ago things were looking a little tough, but now after a couple of wins, players back and others getting closer suddenly things are a lot more positive?

A: We fully understand that we weren’t playing good footy. The coaches knew, the players knew and the supporters knew. There were a couple of circumstances that may not have helped us and personnel was one of them, but we as a coaching staff and playing group never laid the sole responsibility for our performances on who we had on the park. We just weren’t playing the brand of footy that we wanted to play and whether you have your best 22 or you are missing a certain number, there are still certain expectations we have of our players that we weren’t getting. Only two or three changes to personnel and that changes pretty quickly. We are a lot happier than we were and 1-4 wasn’t great, and 3-4 is still not great with a big challenge ahead this week against Peel Thunder who are playing really good footy with a large contingent of AFL players who are playing well. With Fremantle's season the way it is a few experienced players have come back like Pearce, De Boer, Ibbotson and Mzungu who have played some great AFL footy and now they are playing really good WAFL footy as well. We are going to need to be at our very best to beat them. 

Q: This will be your eighth straight game, do you sense they are in the need of a break or they are fairly fresh still?
A: That hasn’t really been a concern especially given it's early in the season. We manage their loads coming into the start of the season and maybe that's something we did wrong and it might have been a contributing factor, but we've had some lighter weeks and unloading sessions along the way. I much prefer eight straight games at this end of the season instead of the end like last year. Whilst that's not the make or break of people's seasons, sometimes it's that mid-part of the year when you are trying to push through injuries and fatigue when that would be more concerning not having a break. We think we will only keep getting stronger but it's one thing to say it, we have to be able to perform and back it up. The players are under no illusions that our season is not back on track, we have only got it closer to being back on track.

Q: Back at home finally to play Peel, must feel like a long time since your last home game?
A: It has been and we've had a really good record in the last season and-a-half here so we are looking forward to getting back here on Saturday to take on a Peel side who we've had some good battles with over the last two or three seasons. Hopefully we will get a good crowd on a nice day. I know the club is celebrating Ladies Day as well ahead of Mother's Day on Sunday, so hopefully we can make the mums all happy and have a win.