BILL GETS GRILLED – BILL MONAGHAN ROUND 10 Q & A

WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan discussing his team's win over Claremont that made it five on the trot prior to the state game break and then a WA Day Derby clash with the also in-form East Perth at Leederville Oval.

QUESTION: Happy with that performance to beat Claremont to make it five straight heading into the break?
ANSWER: What’s pleasing is we got a win against a side who’d been struggling a little bit for a few weeks and they came out and threw a fair bit at us. The contested possession and the clearances we were well behind early. To fight through that and get the victory made it a good win. 

Q: Pretty close to a good four-quarter performance?
A: I would have thought that as a spectacle it was pretty ugly. We didn’t kick the ball overly well. Both sides were poor in front of goal. There was ups and downs and I thought the third quarter in particular for us was a big plus. We were all over them, dominated field position, inside 50s and we just couldn’t convert enough inside forward 50 from our entries. To Claremont’s credit they came out and they rolled the dice a bit in the last quarter. It's hard to be good across all four quarters so we probably achieve that today, but again a 32-point win I’m going to go home and be relatively happy. 

Q: Andrew Strijk again showed what a weapon he can be up forward?
A: He was outstanding. I think if we do our best players in my mind it's Andrew Strijk then a clear second. You could probably raffle eight to 10 other blokes below that but Andrew was at his very best. He hit the scoreboard and attacked the contest hard. What we’ve been able to do over this period of good form and probably even early in the game against East Perth at the start of the season. We’ve been able to spread the load and have a different attacking avenue each week. We just hope that when it’s Andrew’s turn, he takes his opportunity. I though Rudy Riddoch was really good but didn’t have any shots on goal. I thought his goal assists were fantastic. Corey Chalmers was good again. Then Steve Potente and Mike Lourey chipped in with three. We’re trying to spread the load not only in the midfield but in our forward half as well.

Q: Get through without copping any injuries?
A: There’s always going to be a few niggles in a hard fought game and with conditions like that. We’ve had a couple of guys that have battled a couple of little niggly things going into the game, they’ve pulled up a little bit sore. Dean Munns has got a nick above the eye but I think that was from friendly fire. He copped plenty of fire but I think the one that actually stopped him was a bit of friendly fire and I think Scott Simpson’s jaw is pretty sore from the same incident. We’re 16 days away from playing again I couldn’t imagine that anyone wouldn’t recover. The good news is that while they probably won’t play seniors I would expect Keunen, Morrow and King will probably play after the bye. If they don’t play the Monday game against East Perth they will probably play the following Sunday against Swans. There are a few who are coming back.

Q: A great way to celebrate the club's first premiership in 1897?
A: It was fantastic, it’s always good for the newbies. It's great for me as a non-West Perth person until eight or nine years ago and young kids who grow up not knowing a lot about the history of our game to learn and pay respect to what’s gone before us. It’s a proud football club with a rich history. So when we don a jumper that represents the past and applauds their achievement we should all be proud of it. I thought they looked great. It was a nice touch to have the premiership players albeit with a bunch of horrible moustaches but that must have been the fashion in 1897. Hopefully another 120 years people will look back on the man bun and the big beard now as being horrible. I’m sure fashion's changed. I’m really proud and it’s fantastic to coach this football club and hopefully the players learnt a little bit about our history. 

Q: You now go into the WA Day Derby having won five straight with East Perth winning its last four?
A: I think everyone at East Perth and West Perth over a long period of time values that fixture more than any other fixture. Some will say finals included but I’m sure that’s not really the case. East Perth have hit a good rich vein of form. We’re in good form. Hopefully the weather will be fine, and what is now WA Day we get a decent crowd at Leederville Oval and again we get a chance to represent the history of both our clubs and put on a good show.