Difficult conditions were not an excuse for Head Coach Tam Hyett when reflecting on the Round 11 loss against the Cats.
Instead, Hyett spoke on the team's inability to match the opposition's energy at the game as detrimental to the overall result.
Here's what Hyett had to say following the game:
On the game against the Cats:
“It was disappointing. We’ve been poor with our starts this year, for the majority of the year.
“It was a real big focus. So, to give up three goals in the first five minutes in these conditions really, really hurts you.
“We were just chasing tail for the rest of the game trying to make it up.
“To the girls’ credit, the resilience and the fight was there. But we just left our run too late.
“I think (Georgie) Prespakis got on top early. We probably didn’t engage enough at stoppage and gave them a little bit of free ball around that contest area.”
On the ground and conditions:
“It hasn’t stopped raining since 3am, so I wasn’t surprised.
“I actually thought that it might have drained a little bit better.
“But, both teams had to play those conditions.
"They just got off to a better start and played the start better than what we did.”
On the fight back from the Dogs:
“Our side is never out of it, which is a good thing.
“We’ve got a lot of competitors in there so that brings confidence that we’re never too far away.
“As I said, we were pretty disappointed with our start.”
On the finish to the season:
“We had a really big focus coming into the season that we wanted to create a really strong identity.
“I think that’s what we’ve done.
“There are parts of our game that we’ve really improved and now it’s just building on the back of that.
“I think there are lots of areas that we’ve progressed in. It’s really pleasing from the girls.
“One to go. Let’s hope we can spoil St Kilda’s party next week.”
On the absence of Issy Pritchard:
“You never want your best player out of the side.
“She’s proven the last 18 months that she’s one of our premier ball movers and wins a lot of clearances.
“I thought we did well enough. I thought the ability of Poustie to come in and really take that role and more minutes inside mid was huge.
“We’re creating a real strong group of the mids that we’re not reliant on one player and that’s really pleasing.”
On Rylie Wilcox:
“She’s tough.
“That’s another one of those competitors that she just has a ruthless mentality not to be beaten.
“On top of that, she’s a good decision maker with ball in hand and she’s had a super season.”
On the final game of the year:
“We spoke about this from Round 9 - a four-week block of creating a really strong identity.
“Conditions didn’t assist with our method and what we’ve been good at the last couple of weeks.
“That gave our contest stuff an opportunity to see where we’re at from a contest perspective.
“That ability to compete across four quarters and not give up starts is something that we’ll focus on next week.”
