Recap the key points from coach Brenton Sanderson’s post-match press conference on Sunday …
Click the play button above to watch Sando’s media conference in full.
What concerned you about the result?
“When you’re 31 points up at the 10-minute mark of the third quarter, you shouldn’t lose a game from that position. But in saying that, we shouldn’t have been in front anyway. I said to our players at half time, ‘don’t be seduced by the scoreboard’. We kicked five goals-straight in the second quarter and Port kicked 1.7. They looked like the better side and the better side won today.
“We’ll have a look at exactly what happened in the review, but we lost the contested ball and uncontested ball and that’s not a great sign. When you lose both it means there is something wrong with your method and your intensity at the ball, so we’ll have to address that this week.
“Port had 33 scoring shots from 56 entries, so our defence has to improve and that’s not the six defenders, that’s our team defence across the board.
“We just made fundamental errors at key moments of the game. We gave away too many undisciplined free-kicks and 50-metre penalties. It looked like we didn’t have the poise when it was really required.”
Where do you think the team is at?
“We’re in the bottom half of the ladder and that’s reflective of how we’re playing. We had a good win last week in Brisbane. That’s a tough road trip to win, but we didn’t back it up tonight.
“The Showdowns are big games for our fans and our footy club. We let ourselves down tonight and we let our fans down. They should be disappointed.
“When it matters, you need to perform better than what we did tonight. We’re not playing like a top-eight side at the moment.”
How do you think the forward line is functioning?
“At times we looked good in attack. We got some easy goals, some out the back. But we missed some sitters. We played on when we shouldn’t have … Tex played on from a free-kick and kicked a point and Wright handballed to Jaensch who got caught holding the ball and then Port went down the other end and scored.
“We just didn’t have the poise and composure required at times tonight.”
What is the difference compared to last year? And can you turn it around?
“It looks like there’s a lot different at the moment. It’s certainly manageable. We’re not throwing in the towel yet. We’re 1-2 and it’s Round Three. There’s a long way to go, but I’m disappointed for our fans and for our players.
“We’ve got to make sure we get back to playing our way pretty quickly. We’ve got seven days to prepare for the Western Bulldogs and they’re going to be tough. Even though it was our ‘away’ game tonight, we’ve lost two games at home at AAMI Stadium and that’s a disappointing way to start a season.
“You can’t flick a switch on form. We just need some of our better players to improve. We’re not getting consistency of performance at the moment and that starts with the senior coach. I’ve got to identify ways for us to improve and get better at coaching.
“From the top down, we’ll put on a much better performance next week I’m sure.”
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