On Bailey Smith...
“He was a bit ginger after training – he had a scan which showed a little bit, so we went no risk (approach).
“We have a squad of 25 on the road. With Fremantle in Perth the following Friday, we’re going to stay away. It’s a quirk of the schedule – so we’ve asked everyone to come away for the week.
“It was too much risk with Bailey, so he’ll stay back and miss a couple. We’ll go from there.
On staying on the road...
“Every club has got commitments in Adelaide with Gather Round – getting amongst the community and seeing some of the kids. We’re no different, so we’ll fulfil those commitments on the Sunday.
“To then come back to Melbourne – we would only have a chance to breathe for about a day and a bit before we flew back out to Perth. We just figured we might as well stay away.
“We’ve got a great challenge on our hands over the next couple of weeks. It’s exciting – we’re looking forward to it.
“We are going to be on the road for probably eight days together. Without going over the top in a theming or quirky sense, we’ll all be there together supporting each other.
"The way we’ve recognised our frailty over the first couple of rounds - we’re making sure we silicone up the gaps a little bit."
On Cody Weightman...
“He’s looking forward to it. He’s missed a little chunk of football, so we’ll need to look after him a bit in the game but he’ll be at his lively best.
“He’s become such an important part of our team. It’s tremendous for our supporters to have him back in, and definitely his teammates who are looking forward to having him involved at Adelaide Oval.
On Tom Liberatore...
“Like his Dad, he’s been unfortunate with knee injuries, but has been such an influential player during my time at the club.
“He’s always trustworthy at the coal-face and stoppage – he’s highly skilled. He probably doesn’t get the notoriety for how good he is on both sides of his body.
“He’s fought back from adversity a number of times, and now he’s playing some of the best footy of his career I believe.
“We’re looking for a big outing from him in his 200th."
On Port Adelaide...
“I think Port traditionally have been a little bit undersized in their backline. It’s going to be a damp night, so you can look at that one of two ways. The aerial side of it, the threat and the possibilities depending on how we use the footy and how well our forwards present – there might be an opportunity there for us.
“All of those guys – Burton, McKenzie etc – are all really capable and hard to play against. As a collective, we want to challenge them at ground level as much as in the air as well.
“On a damp Adelaide night, we’re going to need to be good at ground level."
On stamping out racism...
“People have been vocal again this week around making sure we all realise it’s an ongoing challenge to stamp it out, and influence the lower forms of society who have prejudices in their veins.
“Whether it’s on social media or in the public space, we just have to continue as people and the public to band together, make sure we break down those prejudices, and support especially our Indigenous players in the game."
