BILL GETS GRILLED – BILL MONAGHAN Q & A

WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan conducts a weekly question and answer segment during the 2014 WAFL season. Here is this week's edition looking back on the WA Day Derby and previewing Saturday's clash with Claremont.

QUESTION: What did you make of the game on Monday, it was a tight and close game all day, but you just came up short against East Perth?

ANSWER: Defensively we were really sound. We made it a real scrap and that probably contributed to some of our poor inside-50 entries, but to East Perth's credit I thought they defended really well. We went inside 51 times for seven goals so they obviously did a lot right defensively as well. If we had our time again I'd like to have the first two centre bounces of the last quarter back. They were two easy goals that on a day when goals weren’t easy to kick were very disappointing from our point of view. It took about 15 minutes for their third goal of the quarter so to the player's credit they were able to steady the ship to a certain degree but we just couldn’t get any quality ball inside the forward 50. They outnumbered us at the fall of the ball and probably took the ball away too easy for our liking.

Q: The result wasn’t what you were after, but having over 6000 people come and watch at Arena Joondalup was a good result for the club?

A: It was a great crowd and a good atmosphere, and hopefully the people who did turn up saw a good product and will now want to come and watch other games. Hopefully they enjoyed coming to Arena Joondalup and if they come back next time hopefully we are able to chalk up a win for them. It was a disappointing day for the side but it was a great day overall for the West Perth Football Club and the competition.

Q: How are Matt Guadagnin and Chris Keunen?

A: Guady got a cork and it was a significant cork. The fact that it was 10 or 15 minutes into the game meant that he played with it so the bleed is quite significant. He won't come up for this week. Generally corks are OK if you get them late in the game and you can ice them quickly, but with him working on the farm and travelling 2 or 300km's in a round trip probably doesn’t help him either.

Chris has got a bruised retina, I think is the official word. He definitely won't play this week and he will need that checked out by a specialist in the upcoming days. He might miss one week or maybe five, we won't know until he sees a specialist.

Q: They are two significant players obviously. Keunen has had a really good year and the break might freshen him up, but for Guadagnin it continues a frustrating season?

A: Matt is a really crucial player in our set up. His communication and leadership is wonderful, and again this year he isn’t having great continuity. It's not ideal but we hopefully are going to win enough games that will see our season extend into September and hopefully he will get himself right for that.

We saw the value of Chris as well for two and-a-half quarters on Monday when he at least broke even or even nullified the effect of their three ruckmen. Seva Martin is only learning the game and has a way to go because it was probably noticeable over the last 40 minutes of the game that their bigs had a greater influence around the stoppages. That's no disrespect to Sev, he's only played a handful of league games and he will get better. Obviously he will now get more exposure for however long Chris is out for.

Q: It is a big job for him this week up against Mark Seaby, Darcy Cameron and maybe even Mitch Andrews from Claremont?

A: You would think that only two of them would play. Seaby and Cameron were both very good on Monday as were the whole of Claremont. They were very impressive and had a real crack. Sev gets a chance against a quality and experienced ruckman, and an up and coming kid who has been doing a very good job in the senior footy he's played this year. We will keep it pretty simple with Sev and it's all about him improving and hopefully we will get a better output from him this week than we had last week.

Q: Is Ray Bartholomew any chance for this week?

A: We got a letter from the specialist today saying that everything is going well but that he wants him to have another week, and that he will probably need to play with a helmet in the short-term. The specialist is really upbeat that he should be available for the East Fremantle game.

Q: Matt Johnson and Trent Manzone are likely in the mix for this week, who else is in contention?

A: Trent has been outstanding with two 30-odd possession games in the reserves. It's always tough when you get dropped and are unlucky to do so, so he is right in the mix. Johnson, Antonio and McPhee are all a chance as well and then we have a couple of kids down back in Meadows, van Berlo and King who played at Gin Gin last year who we will consider as well. Matt Fowler isn’t totally out of it either. We think that even though the reserves lost on Monday on basically the last kick of the day that there are a significant number of kids ready to step up, and two and maybe more might get a chance this week.

Q: What have you made of Claremont so far this year?

A: If you look at their three wins, including beating us, when their pressure and work rate and everything else is up they are difficult to match up on. They still have a quality midfield and when you have guys like Foster, Neates, Orzel and Bradshaw running through the middle they put significant pressure on you ahead of the ball. Seaby is a quality ruckman and Blackwell is outstanding in getting first use of the ball. It would be foolish for us to underestimate them, but having said that we think that in the games when we bring our A-game attitude and effort that we are a difficult proposition for any side. That's what I am expecting this week in a game that is absolutely crucial to our season.

Q: Do you things too different this week given you played on Monday and back up on Saturday?

A: It is obviously a lighter week and what you need to be aware of is that it's as much the mental side as physical. The number of day's break isn’t an issue from a physical point of view and we were quite light on the players on Tuesday in terms of what I got them to do in my review, but on Thursday we snapped them back into action to make sure they are physically ready to go as well.

Q: What do you know about the Claremont Showground as a venue and does it provide any sort of a different challenge?

A: It is shorter and significantly wider. There is going to be some challenges that that poses to us, and we might not be 100 per cent sure of where we stand in zones and all of that stuff. But ultimately it's a football ground where both sides get to run into each other so regardless of the quality or the size of the surface, it's our attitude and effort that will matter and nothing really to do with the ground.

Q: Were you surprised that Matthew Spencer retired last week?

A: I was surprised because it wasn’t something that I was expecting, but not in the fact that he has a career and a young family to focus on. The time and effort that the players need to put in to perform at this level is immense and he was really open and honest about that. It did catch us off guard, but we are fully understanding with his reasoning and we wish him and his family all the best.