On the season ahead…

“It’s obviously great to get to the start of the season. Pre-seasons are always a huge challenge for the players in particular, and we’ve got to this point feeling pretty good about ourselves.

“Last week (against Hawthorn) was an example of what we’re after – we weren’t too overjoyed with the week before, albeit a less experienced side, so it’s a good little platform to work into a game against the reigning premiers.

“There’s obviously a lot to play out – we’ve got to establish ourselves all over again as a team that is harder to play against than we were even last year. I think we’re all really prepared for it, we’ve prepared well, we’re fit, we’re strong – it’s the start of the season and it’s a great challenge for us.

“It’s an opportunity to step off on the right foot and maybe create some momentum early against some teams who are reputationally a bit ahead of us.”

On the debutants…

“Lachie Jaques, the boy from down Geelong way, was close to making his debut last year but we just didn’t have room for him. He’s developed and progressed in a physical and maturity sense. He’s a backman at the moment but he can play a bit of wing, he’s got great awareness and game sense.

“Michael Sellwood is from WA, he comes from a pretty large family – I think he’s got nine brothers and sisters so the whole family might take a jumbo jet from WA to Brisbane. He’s a really strong, competitive defender that plays in that higher-to-middle area of defence.

“Connor Budarick is the other one who’s playing his first game for the Club. He comes to us from the Gold Coast Suns – he was born in Adelaide but spent his youth playing in the NSW/QLD area, and was also captain of the Under-18s Allies team.

“When we went after Connor, we knew that he was a good character, he wasn’t playing in the backline where we’re going to play him on Saturday night, so that was an opportunity to wedge ourselves in there and convince him that this could be a good opportunity or the right club for him.”

On the backline…

“Those three boys will all play in the backline – three out of seven is quite different, and that’s the challenge. Our backline have been beat up publicly with the commentary, but it’s more than them. It’s the other 12 out on the ground with that six, that we all need to be better at.

“Two years ago we were the number one defensive team, so to have that blend of defence and attacking valour – that’s what we’re after.”

On Sam Darcy…

“He’s having a strong pre-season. We looked after him to make sure he could play full noise in the rep game and he came out of that a bit sore, so has had some interruption.

“He really came on (to the scene) last year. The outcomes as far as goals go, he’d love to kick (more), but Aaron kicked 60 last year and no-one’s even talking about him.

“I know Sam missed games and Aaron created a lot of opportunities for other players, and Sam will as well. He’s just a huge threat that creates huge headaches for the opposition, but he helps other play well.”

On Cody Weightman…

“He's a beauty. He won't be back for a while - we're talking another 10-12 weeks. But he’s feeling pretty good about himself.

“He got the message from the surgeon the other day that he can get a bit busier with some of his loading, but he’s still a way off.

“It's obviously been quite traumatic for him because of how often he had to get that knee drained and he had a little infection in there that he finally got rid of.

“He’s a determined young man and I know he'll get (back to his best).”