How’s Josh (Kennedy)?

I think he’s okay. It’s a new injury to his ankle and he’s walking around. I think it was more precautionary than anything (taking him off), but we’ve got to see how he pulls up tomorrow. I think it could just be a garden variety roll, but we won’t know until he pulls up.

Were you concerned when it first happened?

Obviously. We’ve had a bit of a bad run with our good players getting injured. We got Dom (Sheed) back, but we lost Gov (Jeremy McGovern). We were still pretty depleted tonight, so hopefully the week off gives us a good opportunity to get those guys back, including JK.

Did you consider pulling anyone when you lost JK? Did you think ‘we might need to get someone off for a quarter or so (in case they got injured)?

No. We came here to win and I thought North … a lot of people have been potting North but they played with real spirit tonight. Every club is going through different situations when you’re on the road for 12 weeks and they’ve been decimated by injuries as well. We prepared for them at their best and they weren’t far off it tonight. We got away with it. Our leaders stood up again in the last quarter and dragged us over the line. I’m not saying we’re really disappointed with how we played – we could play better – but they just didn’t allow us to, so full credit to North. We hung in there. They missed some shots they should have got and we missed a few. But in the end we stood up when it mattered and we can sit back and watch the footy over the weekend.

How much will you be sweating on those results over the weekend?

A lot. I get caught up in that, you start hoping that teams win and lose. I’m just like every other West Coast supporter out there. At least we put a bit of pressure on the two sides (Richmond and Geelong), they’ve got to win to lock away top four. If we don’t get it we get fifth and we get to play at home. We came here to do a job and win. I’m glad we didn’t rest anyone. I don’t know if we would’ve won if we rested too many. In the end we’re pretty happy, we just need to get JK over the line.

Will you actually sit there and watch those games or just wait for the results later?

I like watching footy. I’ll be in home quarantine, so I’m glad there’s footy on most night the next few days.

Liam Ryan has become a match winner, hasn’t he?

He has. Our system tonight didn’t click, so individuals stood up. We don’t want to rely on that, but he’s All Australian. His last month in particular … we haven’t been with Jamie Cripps for four or five weeks – he had his baby yesterday and had a baby boy – so (Ryan’s) really stood up for us when the game has been on the line. He’s been one of those leaders who has dragged us over the line a couple of weeks in a row now.

The last two weeks you’ve sort of had similar results with workman-like performances. Do you take a glass half full approach to those ones having won the games or a glass half empty in that you haven’t played your best?

We’re half full. Whenever you win you’ve got to have a glass half full (outlook). There are too many glass half empty things to deal with in this industry, so when you win winning is good. We won’t be looking back on this game with great memories and it’s four points. And I’d say we’re missing five or six top 10 players in our side, so no matter how good your system is you need talent. We’ve got to blood some kids; we’ve had seven or eight kids play. Some of them probably weren’t ready, but we exposed them and we managed to win at the same time. Hopefully that pays us back in another pre-season with those kids to go through. For them to experience a win, in particular last week, they’ll never forget it. I’ll be glass half full.

Who do you expect to have available that wasn’t playing tonight in week one (of the finals)?

Hopefully (Mark) Hutchings, (Lewis) Jetta, maybe (Jeremy) McGovern. I don’t think Yeoy (Elliot Yeo) will be available. (Luke) Shuey, (Jack) Redden, Crippa (Jamie Cripps). There’s a few there. We had two defenders playing on the wings tonight. I think Duggo (Liam Duggan) has been pretty good as a midfielder as well. We’ve been beaten in the mids for the last four or five weeks, so we’ve got to get to work there. But we’ll have two or three mids back, so we’ll see how we go.

So McGovern’s coming on better than expected?

He walk-jogged today. He’s probably … less likely than likely, but I reckon he’s going to be knocking on my door.

Does the fact that you’re fifth and it’s more likely you’ll play Saturday increase his chances?

Every day counts. We won’t risk him, but he’s got over the little hurdle of the feel of it now he’s into the running program.

Is there a way to replicate the dew here in Perth?

The game is different. You’re not going to see pretty footy, it doesn’t matter who you are. You do have to adapt. We started the game tonight thinking we’d have a go at using the whole ground and just trying to play our way, but we learnt really quick (that wasn’t possible). Sometimes it’s dry at night. Tonight it wasn’t and we had to adapt. We thought we overused the ball a little bit and so did North, but that’s just the way night games here are going to be. We should know, we’ve probably had eight games at night here, so you’d think we’d get better. We’ve got some work to do with that. We get Eskis out every training session and we’ve got the soapy water. We’re trying to adapt as best we can.

Do you think it affects your control game style more than other clubs?

I think everyone who wants to try and control the ball in wet conditions it just takes half a second longer to adapt or take the ball clean, but you can still do it. It depends on how much pressure the team puts on as well. We’re not dismissing the way we play, we just need to adjust a couple of things as we go.