Reasons for Optimism

“There are lots of reasons for us to think that we'll improve, we had a few guys who were off that we know will get better, we get a few guys back and it was one of those games where it was a real challenge trying to cover for some of the things that happened with us during the game. Stewart obviously, when you lose your best player, and we went in a little light on defenders anyway and with Kolodjashnij and Jack Henry unavailable, and then De Koning went down, Stengle went down… it wasn't seamless night for us but not a terrible performance.

Tom Stewart Update

“He was subbed off pretty quickly so I would be surprised if he played next week but beyond that it's hard to say. It's one of those ones that they're saying, look we doubt he'll play next week, but we don't think it's a really long-termer.”

On Sam De Koning 

"He was hampered. It's a similar thing to a minor injury he had at training a few weeks ago and he bounced back really quickly from that. He was certainly hampered but even with Stewart going out there was no suggestion from our medical staff that there was a risk putting him back on even though he was hampered. They know clearly that we wouldn't take a risk .. we'd give up the four points before we'd put Sam De Koning at risk" 

On Ollie Henry and Tanner Bruhn’s debuts

"He's (Ollie Henry) a pretty composed young man. I keep reminding myself that he and Tanner Bruhn are 20 and hopefully they're going to play a lot of good footy for the Cats. I thought they were both good. Ollie did some, pretty symbolic of where he is in his career, he does some really special things and other parts there are some refinements required but I thought those two handled the occasion well." 

On Tyson Stengle

"Fortunately in that big collision he bore most of the brunt on his shoulder but we didn't know that, he just when pretty quickly into the concussion protocol and when that happens you just wait until you hear 20 minutes later. Talking to him after the game he just said it was more his shoulder." 

Esava’s progress as a defender

"I thought he was outstanding. I place a really high value on those guys that can stand up behind the ball and I thought a couple of times he attacked the ball really well when he had the sit and I thought other times he was just outstanding when he was out of position. I thought that was a really big win for us, not just tonight, but over the pre-season. I'm excited about what he can do." 

Why we can improve quickly

"I think (Jake Kolodjashnij) is on track for Round 3. (Mitch) Duncan a little bit longer, we're going to hold him back. We're in that Patty Dangerfield headspace in that he could of played tonight but we're going to hold him back a little. Jack Henry is going to be a little while, don't know on Stewart, Jack Bowes will be available next week. Well get a few back, we're pretty optimistic we can improve pretty quickly."