On the stats…

“(The contested possession) was as big a differential or discrepancy there’s been in a game for us for a long period of time.

“Historically there have been one or two (players) that have gotten a lot of those contested possessions for us. One or two aren’t in our team at the moment, so others need to pick up that vibe and that slack.

“Until they do, we will be a bit vulnerable.

“I thought Naughts really battled his backside off and did what he could. Other than that we didn’t really have too many winners.”

 On the result…

“You can give Carlton credit for the way they overwhelmed us. I think we only had it inside our 50 twice with about a minute to go.

“To think when the game was on the line, for (Carlton) to come out of centre bounce like they did and win the contested elements – which they did all night really – we were probably lucky to be in the game early because they squandered some chances. 

“It wouldn’t have been a great spectacle to watch I wouldn’t have thought. 

“In the end they overwhelmed us.”

On the injury to Bailey Williams…

“When we lost him to injury in the second quarter we had to make some adjustments with personnel, which meant we were short in our forward-line. 

“Carlton were able to use the width of the ground and take few more uncontested marks than we’d like – so we hadn’t adjusted to that. 

“It appears as though he’s done a hamstring, so as usual we’ll wait for the radiologists to get back to us.

“Every team loses players from time-to-time and you just have to cover that. The boys who took up some minutes on the wing – Lachie McNeil, Sam Davidson, Arty Jones, Oskar Baker – they should be able to cope with it. 

“Truck is an experienced player…I don’t think that’s the reason Carlton beat us in the end.”

On what’s next…

“All year, we’re searching for a level of proficiency in our game. We’re asking a lot, and we’re pushing the envelope with our players. 

“We’ve got to be honest if we want to expedite our improvement. 

“Hopefully it’s not a big issue as far as the season goes – there’s still such a long way to go.”