Do you feel relieved?

I think whenever you win you feel relieved, but obviously it’s been a very difficult three or four weeks. Been down on form, down on confidence. So we knew Adelaide obviously had a poor week last week as well, so both teams were really keen with probably a little bit of confidence, in search of some anyway. I thought we had field position for most of the day, didn’t really convert in the first quarter, but they made the most of theirs. But, overall we played four quarters we’ve been trying to do that for a little bit, our good players played well and some of our younger players stood up as well.

How would you describe the stoppage work?

I’m not sure of the numbers I haven’t got any stats, but it looked like obviously Nic (Naitanui) and his 200^th, fantastic for him and the footy club. He was special tonight, he’s been very good for a long period of time, and I thought we got a bit more reward with some more dynamic clearances than just a surge type of game. So, they came out the front a little bit, kicked some important forward 50 stoppage goals which we haven’t for a while and got rewarded with some supply, so that’s something we have been looking for, for a couple of weeks.

What about Luke Shuey’s injury?

He’s got calf awareness, so we just didn’t want to take a risk so at this stage we don’t know, could be nothing but we’re holding out hope. It’s definitely minor no matter what but because of his history we didn’t want to take risk.

Was it the same calf he had issues with?

I don’t know, he might have done both over the journey, so yes it is.

So he’ll have scans?

Standard line guys, I can’t tell you what’s going to happen, but he was aware of it, and maybe he’s over sensitive, maybe he’s not so we’ll hope for the best.

From zero to 100% where do you think you’re at?

I don’t know, I don’t think we’re too far away, and then sometimes I think we’ve got a bit of work to do. I think an opportunity for growth in the next five weeks no matter what, that we keep exploring our list, our younger players, trying to get our best players to play well, and we’re in the eight so we’re here to have a swing as well. So always got an eye for everything, trying to be balanced is important. I know and there’s a little bit of justified criticism that you’ve got to accept, but you can’t go too deep on that otherwise you just can’t get yourself out of it, so I think our players for the most part have concentrated on what they can do. And trying to meet expectations is really difficult, especially at West Coast, but we think we can play better than we are now.

So still trying to find out where you are really?

I think so, I think our best is good enough for anyone and our worst is as bad as anyone so it’s probably getting more consistent, around the contest is really important for us.

Controlled the air well today?

At times we looked threatening, I thought, our forwards, I thought the Adelaide defenders defended well on our talls for the most part, our smalls did some damage. ‘Crippa’ (Jamie Cripps) kicked five in the end and Liam Ryan probably had seven shots. So I thought they were a bit undermanned with their defence and they battled pretty well but the weight of numbers probably overwhelmed them in the end.”

What about being able to get around the back of stoppages and get a couple of goals?

I think there’s clearances, then there’s metres gained from clearances and then there’s scores from clearances, so we’re always okay in that area. But bang for buck we don’t want to have to rely on centre bounces for goals, but it’s an important part of the game for anyone, if you can get some field position and defend behind that then it takes a little bit of time to get it out from your back half. So, that’s important and score some stoppages, obviously it’s a part of the game. But so is the turnover game as well, so we are working hard on our defence and how to lock it in there a bit better. At times we did it really well and sometimes it was too easy, the way Adelaide shaped their way out and used the corridor at stages, so that’s all part of the work in progress that we’re in at the moment.

Thoughts on Jamie Cripps’ impact up forward?

Well it’s just so good that he got rewarded, he’s probably our hardest worker, at stages he doesn’t get rewarded but he did tonight. He kicked some really important goals, even the one in the last, that one at the boundary with some stoppage, it just felt a bit uneasy, and then that sort of iced the game a little bit. So, happy that some of our individuals who have been down got rewarded for what they have been trying to work through during the week and obviously having a win it’s a different flight home.

What’s the outlook for Josh Kennedy, was he close to playing?

He was close, it was a six day break, we played last Monday and we had to name the squad before main training. So there was some question mark on some players, I reckon we could’ve rolled him out if we had to, he was sort of half keen, especially with Nic’s 200^th but in the end I think obviously made the right call, we won the game and we didn’t use him and he should be right for next week. It was just a tight calf, which he’s had a lot this year.

Thirteen contested possessions for Connor West on debut?

I thought Luke Edwards, Harry Edwards, Connor West, Bailey Williams, that’s probably the growth, we want to explore that in the next five or six weeks. We got some kids coming through that we think can hold down a senior spot, we have to mix the side up a little bit, might be playing different positions but we think we just going to get them in and see how they go. We sort of thought that he was going to bring that pressure, contest, his dad (Robbie West) played for West Coast as well so that was a good little moment for the family today. So I’m glad he contributed.

Fifteen players are ineligible to play the Sydney Derby because they’re in isolation. When the club is losing players to isolation, is there a tipping point for the league where they might time out?

It’s a guess, I would hate to be in AFL’s shoes at the moment, it’s a big decision to make but I’m assuming if you can’t field a team then we should probably put things on hold for a week or so, but that’s a bit unfair on the AFL and what they are working through I don’t really know it’s the first I’ve heard of it. But obviously it makes it quite difficult to win if you’re missing 15 players. But I’ll leave that up to the AFL, I think they have done a pretty good job at trying to keep the season going. I think the clubs have handled it a lot better, I know we have with trying to pivot quite quickly on where the season is and what we need to do. So we’re up for it but there probably will be a time where you might need to take a deep breath and see how things settle. Maybe we’ll need to go to WA and hub. That could be an option, we share Adelaide and Perth.

Do you feel fortunate over there?

We are very lucky, we’re an isolated city in WA and we’ve had some privileges that other states haven’t, so it’s obviously through some management but also just through being so isolated, so we understand that we’re lucky.