BILL GETS GRILLED – BILL MONAGHAN ROUND 23 Q & A

WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan will be conducting a weekly question and answer segment for the club's website. Here he discusses the final round loss to Claremont and looks ahead to this Sunday's qualifying final against Peel Thunder at HBF Arena.

QUESTION: The result didn’t really matter for you against Claremont on Saturday, but the goal was to come out of it healthy to have everyone available for the finals. That didn’t look too great on the day, but how have the sore bodies pulled up?
ANSWER: First of all, we are disappointed to lose especially after being in a position to win. Whilst technically the result didn’t have a lot of bearing for us, we still are proud of our performances and we would have liked to win. But we should be pretty right with our injuries. Most of them are at the minor end. Strijk tweaked an ankle fairly early on and we're pretty confident he could have seen the game out, but we didn’t think there was a point a week out from finals. Marcus copped one on the chin and was a little groggy, and needed stitches so again we erred on the side of caution. Chris Keunen had a little tweak of his ankle, but we didn’t need to take him off and we didn’t ruck him a lot and instead gave Tim Sutherland an opportunity to do the majority of the ruck work. Kris Shannon was probably the worst of the lot in terms of creating a little bit of doubt about whether he plays this week. He got a cork in the calf and whilst it wasn’t a bad cork and he was able to go back out, he basically sat in the pocket and was used as a rotator. He will probably only be 50-50 to play this week I would have thought.

Q: A lot of talk about Peel's selection dramas this week because of Fremantle, but you are going to have a hard time whittling down a group of 28 to 30 capable players into a final 22 to take the field on Sunday?
A: We have been putting off the inevitable over the last two or three weeks with our selections. Whilst there is a lot of talk in the media about resting and fatigue, and player management, we've probably been doing that for three or four weeks. If you look back across our selection we've probably had two or three out every week for about four weeks now, and there was another four on the weekend which was our biggest. Without saying that they were all 100 per cent and could have played, they were all just minor issues that we tried to manage. So selection has been relatively easy for us albeit there's a handful of guys playing in the twos who could have easily played. Munns has been an outstanding, Antonio, Crisp has been back playing good footy. So other guys have been in the mix, but selection has been pretty tough and now that we legitimately have 27 or 28 who we can easily pick from this week, it will be very difficult. Part of our process is that I speak to Joe Morrow last week who needed a rest, and his first question is if he'll come back the week after. We told him he'll be straight back in so we've already made a lot of the decisions along the way. It's pretty hard to rest someone and take the cautious approach with them, and then not play them the week after. If you look back over that period, Meadows was straight back in the week after he missed and Lynch was the same because you can't tell them to have a rest, and not play them the week after. It's an on-going management issue and it's something we think we have been able to manage to this stage. I'm now expecting 22 fit and firing guys to play well this Sunday in the qualifying final.

Q: How valuable is it that the players that don't make that final 22 this week will get the chance to play in a reserves final?
A: Everyone would prefer their reserves side to be in if their seniors have made the finals. We've been lucky for the last few years that our reserves have been relatively strong, and it's great that it gives those guys on the cusp an opportunity to stay in form and put their hand up. The other thing is that predominately reserves sides across the competition, but in particular ours, is full of 18 to 21 year olds so it's a great opportunity for them to experience a higher level than a home and away game. There's a number of factors there that make it important for them to play and the added bonus this year is that the colts are playing finals as well. We are really proud that we are the only club to have all three clubs participating in finals this year.

Q: Obviously you will keep an eye on which Fremantle players end up going out of the Peel team to play for the Dockers this week, but you do have to be careful to not take them lightly as a result?
A: It's been our mantra all year and probably in my whole time here that we can't control what other sides do, it probably just makes it a little trickier in terms of preparation and trying to give players information about the opposition. But I would have thought Peel finished 13-7 like us and they have got structures and set plays, and ball movements who like any other team that's successful are identifiable, and won't change because of personnel. We'll plan for them doing what they have done all season and especially with Ross' influence of anywhere, anytime mantra, then Peel will come up here really positive and we'd be foolish not to treat them with the utmost respect regardless of who plays. I'm expecting them to have four to eight Fremantle players still, but it could be 10 or less, who knows. The good thing is that we will have our final training session on Friday so this week I'll know the Peel side based on who is named for Fremantle, and given they are playing away I'd assume all three of their emergencies will play for Peel on Sunday. I'll have a good handle on that come Friday when we train for the last time to share with the players.

Q: Your back-line has done a great job shutting down key forwards from the opposition, but is it a different challenge now up against Gerald Ugle and Leroy Jetta from Peel?
A: Every side has got their strengths and I think clearly this year that Peel's scoring strengths is around the mid to small type forwards. They haven’t had the tall forwards like Taberner play as much as they have in the past, but we'd be foolish to think it's just Jetta and Ugle but obviously they are the two best and both sit near the top of the goal kicking. Eddy Dann is back playing who can play forward, Crozier will be there if he doesn’t play AFL and there's Duffy and a few others. They have multiple scoring options and it just probably means for us at selection that we have been going with Adams, Rodda and Morrow as key defenders, but we'll need to check that off this week and one of them might end up going forward or we might need an extra small ourselves. Until we know the make up of the side, it's a little bit hard but we'll be planning significantly around their midfield, their running players and their smaller forwards.

Q: Do you feel a real sense of excitement around the club this week now that you have finals on Sunday and all three grades get to play at home?
A: Our players are generally fairly excitable at the best of times, so I haven’t noticed a big difference but I think everyone loves this time of year. Whilst the weather hasn’t necessarily warmed up, it is spring time and everyone gets a spring in their step come finals time. We are really confident that the players will be spot on to go this week and that will be set by our leadership group, and senior players and then with the enthusiasm of a number of young kids we've got playing as well. It's an exciting time and we are really looking forward to it.