Greater Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron reviews his team’s 36-point loss to the Crows at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.
On their overall performance…
“If you don’t play four quarters in this game, you’ll get beaten – especially in finals footy. Look, they’re a super side and they’re on top for a reason. They’re hard to beat here.
“The effort is there, but we didn’t give good supply to our forwards and nor did our forwards take some opportunities when they needed to.
“When you’re playing Adelaide, if you don’t cash in, somewhere along the line they’ll kick three really quick goals… and that’s what they did.”
On their effort in the first half...
“The disappointing part was the one quarter again. The second quarter… that’s the difference in the game and on the scoreboard. The first 15 to 20 minutes we started well, then leaked a couple of late goals. But, it was a good start.
“We’re disappointed in the second quarter, but as disappointed as I was with the second quarter, I was pleased with the second half. I thought we battled away and with 13 more inside 50ms (in the second half), our ball use wasn’t up to scratch.”
On his half-time message to the players…
“I challenged our guys at half-time and said, ‘you can’t serve up that kind of footy in finals’. And they responded. I was really pleased that they did respond in the second half, because it’s a sign of a side that knows we’ve probably disappointed ourselves in one quarter.
“They found a way to get back into the game. Even though there was always that four to five goal buffer, we hung in there.”
On the impact the bye has on the winning team’s week off…
“I think everyone would take a Qualifying Final win, every day of the week. We had it last year and had the week off.
“Time will tell, but we look forward to continuity… we play against next Saturday and get an opportunity to resurrect the disappointment of playing three quarters of footy and letting ourselves down on one of those. Whoever that may be – Port or West Coast – we can’t get there quick enough.”
On moving forward...
“I’m disappointed with tonight. We let ourselves down in the second quarter. I’m pleased with the second half, but I think there’s a lot of light at the end of the tunnel for us. We look forward to whoever our opposition is next week.
“We have to play four quarters… but I’m confident that we can. We can’t hang out hats on two or three quarters, as it’s not going to stack up in finals. If we don’t, I’ll be sitting here saying the same thing.”
