Scott on the best way to maintain momentum

If you go in hoping for something, it is unlikely that you are going to be able to get it anyway. Because you can't manufacture it, I don't spend too much time thinking about what is best.

We spend a lot of time thinking about how given the draw we have got, and it is a very unusual draw. We are playing Essendon and Richmond in the last three rounds for the first time of the year, when at the halfway point of the year, we had played a lot of the contenders twice already.

We didn't ask for it, but if we were able to ask for the perfect run home, I am not exactly sure what we would say. Again, it comes back to the situation at the time.

We are in pretty good health at the moment, but there could be situations where you are not, and you would be wishing for a different draw and different run in.

I think the one consistent thing over the years has been that the team that goes in to the Finals, and I guess I shouldn't speak for Fremantle, but even if you are comfortable with your ladder position, going into a Finals series in good shape with momentum is generally a good thing. 

Scott on Nigel Lappin

It is big, but we had Steven King go last year and that was pretty big, this is in a very similar category to that.

You have got someone that has been such a high performer for our footy club. I think this is my 16th season, but I think it is his 18th. He has just been so fundamental to what we have done.

Maybe we let the cat out of the bag that we think he is as good in the development space as anyone out there, and that might have made him more attractive. But even if that is true, that is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact I think it is more likely a good thing.

It is a part of what we are trying to do, we have no intention of trying to hold our people back. Even to a certain extent with players, there will be players and there have been in the past and will be in the future, where the best thing for their career is to go somewhere else.

It is certainly the case for assistant coaches who get an opportunity to be a head coach, and this is very similar. This is a position that just falls into the 'too good to refuse' category for Nige.

We are simultaneously disappointed to lose him, but really excited that he is furthering his career. To think he could take it to another level is a bit hard to believe, because he has been such a high performer already. 

Scott on Mark Corrigan and the VFL Cats

We think we have prioritised our VFL program for a long time.

We have had a standalone VFL team all my time here, and that competition has changed a fair bit, obviously there were huge changes through Covid.

Our view has always been that we want that program to have autonomy, and it needs to be prioritised within the program. That is much more than one person, but your VFL coach is a key pillar in that.

'Harry' [Corrigan] and Nigel have worked really closely together. The team is going well, it looks like they are going well if you look at the ladder, but it is much more than that for us.

Certainly not suggesting it is an advantage for us necessarily, not suggesting we do it better than anyone else. The point I am making is that those two people, even though they are a little off broadway at times, they are key to what we do. 

Scott on whether Patrick Dangerfield will play

He put his hand up last week.

It is on the table, that is for sure, we haven't made a decision yet. Again, it does fit into the category that we were talking about before, the game before Wildcard Round is foremost in everyone's mind.

But with Pat, we sort of do our planning on the hope that we have got quite a bit of footy to go. The last thing we want to do is use all our tickets before the big stuff.

We are thinking about Pat, but we are still a fair way away from making a decision. As far as he is concerned, he is right to go. 

Scott on Tyson Stengle

Whenever someone leaves, my preference is to think about their time at the club in totality.

It is like when a gun retires, we shouldn't think about how they went in their last couple of games or their last season. You should be thinking about the contribution they made.

Tyson was an outstanding success for us.

I would be invading his privacy if I spoke to some of the challenges that he has had through his life, but I think you can take it as read that for him to do what he did in the AFL system, is so close to a miracle it is not funny.

He should be so proud of what he has been able to achieve.