Senior coach Luke Beveridge tackles some of the big talking points ahead of Sunday’s match against Carlton.

Are Carlton better than a 0-4 side?
I think so. Gold Coast beat us in a tight one, and they only just got over Carlton so based on the score lines there’s not much between us. They’ve been in games every week and everyone’s talking about how even the competition might be… We’re one of those teams that have started in promising fashion, and feel like we could have been 4-0 but we’re not. It’s still early in the season. 

Assessing the early part of the season…
We’re tip-toeing through games where we’re allowing the opposition significant momentum swings by really blatant turnovers and skill error at times… we got run down three times in open field last week, and we know how uplifting that is from a team perspective when a player does that. I said to our players after the game (against Collingwood), to your credit, you just stuck to your guns and went back to the belief in what you were all doing. 

Skill errors in the game…
The game has never been in a state before where the players are covering so much ground at the speed they are. I think we’re seeing a hell of a lot of error with the use of the Sherrin because of that. 

Beating Carlton…
Ultimately we can only take care of what we can control, and that’s continuous improvement on our behalf… They’ve been very close in their games, they’re a developing side and list – as we all are – and all we can do is take control of our own backyard and believe that’s going to win the day. 

Bontempelli v Cripps
They will definitely be in and around that contest together for larger portions of the game. I suppose at times they will definitely interact physically, there’s no doubt about that, but I wouldn't imagine 'Bolts' (Carlton coach Brendon Bolton) is going to assign any responsibility there… You’ll see some of that, which is great for the game and the spectacle, but Marcus won't have any responsibility directly to control his output over the four quarters.

Changes this week?
There will be. We need to reward some of the really good performances from the boys who have been playing for Footscray. I can’t tell you how many (yet) but we’ve had some dialogue this week, and we’ll get through our training session today… Expect a change or two 

The ruck battle…
We’re going well as far as reading what’s happening there, our mids have done an outstanding job. There’s more to the game than the hit-outs, and we feel like Tim’s really progressing. We’re rapt with his impact in the other phases of the game… It’s not going to get any easier this week (but) I wouldn’t imagine we’ll go too much different.

Lin Jong’s return…
Really happy with the way he played against Collingwood’s VFL side, first game back. In the mix. Whether or not he comes in, he might need another one or so with the match fitness. But he played well, Jongy.

Is Marcus Bontempelli back to his best?
Defensively he’s been terrific as well, that’s the challenge for those prolific midfielders, what are they doing for you when you haven’t got the ball. He’s just had a really rounded four performances. There’s some areas he’s working on. The quality of what we’re all doing with the ball, something he’s as capable of as anyone in the competition and he knows there’s some things he can shave off week to week and get more productivity forward of centre at times, which we’re all working on. He’s had an enormous start, and he’s one of the reasons why we’re extremely competitive. We just need that even performance across the 22 every week.

And finally… Why do you call ‘speccy’ a ‘Dundee’?
I can’t claim it – it’s not my term. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Stephen Tingay and Johnny Ahern, a couple of the Shepparton boys I used to play with who were great mates of mine… you were as bemused as I was when I first heard it. They called a ‘speccy’ or a ‘Jezza’ a ‘Dundee’, I didn’t know what it was and they told me. It’s basically when Mick Dundee in the New York subway walks across heads to get to Linda Kozlowski. I don’t know if it’s a Goulburn Valley thing or not! I liked it, I laughed back then so it’s not a bad one.