It's been a big 2-year effort, do you feel like you at least deserve a spot in the Grand Final?
Were you always confident in those last few minutes as a result of that they would get over the line?"Deserve is an interesting word, but I suppose we've got ourselves in this position. We're really proud of our journey. We mentioned during the week that it takes about 2 years to get to these moments, well our story is at least. Even after the game, I mentioned on the whiteboard that 2 years of doing 1-on-1 fight drills like we do it every session. Two minutes of it, tick off. Two minutes, the next one. I don't know how many hours that is, but you saw some of those contests in the last quarter. How much we'd rehearsed those moments. We sit in this and take a little bit of a breath and be really proud of what we've achieved so far".
Two finals now where you had to really hang on grimly in the last quarter and you're able to close it out. How is the resilience of this group to be able to do that in two big finals?"As much as you can be. GWS were amazing. Kingers has done an incredible job in such a short period of time and we sat there last year at a 1-point loss. It's a pretty similar story really. Their second half of the year was outstanding. He's done an amazing job with that group and as much as you don't get to go into next week, he should be really proud of what he's done".
What was the main message at Half Time to get the team back in the game?"Week after week, I sit here and we've won a close game again and last year we didn't quite get it done in finals. We lost a couple of close ones, but all those lessons are why we're here now and we're still breathing because we practise it. Two years of practising scenarios. Two minutes to go, kill the game. Two minutes to go, we need to win. It's rehearsed for these moments and you create habits and yeah you need a bit of luck here and there. I think we might have killed the clock for three minutes. The ball didn't move very fast. We've got work to do, there's a couple of scenarios in particular in the last quarter I thought we could have executed better".
It's not often you win a game where you don't kick a goal for an hour and then another quarter you kick one goal."We knew that GWS' last two weeks, their second quarters have been outstanding. That's when they put the foot down and put the opposition away and we knew that was going to come. I didn't feel like they put us away though. I thought we hung in there when we needed to and it's probably as good as they were, I think our ability to just hang tough without the scoreboard affecting too much more. The message at Half Time was I thought we were a bit too slow and stodgy. We didn't move the ball quick enough. Not brave enough. Not enough overlap run and get some chaos in the game. That was the message and then we had to try to put Nick [Daicos] to half back to get some run and carry and try to get the game going a bit more".
It's feast or famine with you guys isn't it when it comes to scoring goals?"We did that last game".
What's the early diagnosis with Dan McStay?"Yeah, somewhat. I think every game is a little bit different. We've got work to do still. We're running out of time, 120 minutes to go to make those little parts of our game better. We'll keep learning".
Have you had a chat with Dan McStay? How is he?"He's going to get scans. I'm not great with this with the terminology. I'm not sure if it's an MCL. I'm not sure, so we'll get scans. I would have thought...I don't know. I don't want to put a definite decision on it, but I think he might be unlucky to miss out. We'll wait and see".
If McStay's not available, how do you replace him for next week?"At the moment until you really know, you just put your arms around him and show love and support as best as you can. That'll play out pretty quickly I would have thought".
What impact do you think McStay had on the game playing on Sam Taylor"Can I just stay here for a minute. I think we'll stay here. We'll have plenty of time to work out what a replacement looks like. We'll stay here".
What was the plan with Nick Daicos tonight? It felt like he had limited game time early and started on the beach of course and he seemed to improve as the game went on. How did you sort of set him up for tonight?"He had moments, he really did. Early he was significant, jumping and marking the ball. You can see why we get him, like why he's important to us. We need someone who can mark the ball forward of centre. If he doesn't quite get up, he'll be missed".
What did you make of Jordan De Goey's incredible individual game?"I said pregame that six minutes on the bench is not the end of the world. We just wanted the game to settle in a little bit. We just wanted to put Nick where we need thought we needed him and conscious of he hasn't played for a long time and allow him to play to his strengths. A bit of forward, a bit of mid and then I like I said we move him to half back to get some run and carry. To get that part of our game going. Got a feeling he's going to get better".
Can you talk us through the evolution and development of Jordan De Goey because it's been about 12 months to the day since he re-signed and turned his back on free agency. He's had a career best year and become a star"What a great game from him. I thought he set himself up for the last final unbelievably well. He trained at a level that I thought 'oh god, he's going to tear the game apart against Melbourne'. It didn't quite come through to that and then sometimes you get a little bit despondent with that, but no he just went back to work. If you can watch our match play, he kicked three goals in a quarter on Friday night and then he's just trained so well so that doesn't surprise me, the performance. A player of his talent training at that level, he set himself up unbelievably to play well and when he's at full flight, he's a weapon isn't he".
In terms of the week ahead, you've got plenty of guys that haven't played in a Grand Final. You got so much Grand Final experience, but specifically as a player do you have valuable intel to pass onto them."We all grow up don't we? I'm 50 today. I'm getting a bit old. He's 26 or something. He's growing. Some take a little bit longer to find who they are and we're really proud of his journey, his growth. We all want to keep growing. People don't like change. You'll notice [someone] say 'oh you need to change'. No one likes to change, but people like to grow. People want to grow so we'll continue to use that language around our environment. Let's get better. Jordie's to credit to him, Jacqui Louder has done an incredible job supporting him. Finding him out about himself. He's a work in progress. He's not finished, but what you're seeing definitely is a guy that's growing up".
Brownlow Medal on Monday night, what would it mean if Nick Daicos can pull it off?"It's been 20 years, but the message after the game was smell it all, take it all in and embrace every single bit of it. Take every bit of it in. The parades, the training, the crowds. There'll be a hurricane going on around you and we just got to sit in the middle of it and do the job that we need to do, but we've got one to go. I know we celebrate it hard and there might be certain sections of someone who will want to judge that but our whole story for the last two years is bring the fans along with us. We don't win this game, I'm talking to the fans. We do not win this game without their support. 97,000 people, thank you so much. Magpie army, they drove us over the line. They dragged us over the line. We love you very much".
Will Taylor Adams be available for the Grand Final?"It would be pretty special wouldn't it. It's a reflection of his year. It's a reflection on us as a team. Five weeks to go, it'll be interesting where he sits".
Do you reckon you'll have an extra glass of red tonight given it's your Birthday?"That's going to be a watch the clock. I think every second is going to be needed. We'll push it to the line and we'll see what we get".
How do you feel being in your 50s?"I do like the red wine replay. Glass of red and waters replay. I'll definitely go home and do that and I think it'll taste pretty nice".
What did Richmond do so well in those Grand Finals because you were a part of it at the time. What lessons from your Richmond days might you bring to this Grand Final?"I'm enjoying my 50s. It's been good to me so far. I went into the year thinking 50 is a big number. I'll keep it on the lowdown, it didn't quite come out that way did it".
https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/ ... 5391990001"All of its great lessons for experience. We get Pendles and Steele, those guys have lived it too. We'll draw upon all of it. Stay in the moment. Control what you can and embrace every bit of it. They're the lessons I've learned".
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