Can you take us behind the strategy behind to lock these guys into long-term deals and, and the commitment that also gets from them in terms of the build towards that, that first premiership?

Yeah, look, uh, I think first and foremost, we look to target talent that we think, um, can provide us with value for the long term.

We've been able to bring in a number of early draft picks and, and Walsy and the team have done a fantastic job at identifying some value In the draft or, or through other processes as well.

And, and when we look at that age demographic of our group, when you go from that twenty-three to, to twenty-seven, that's the, the larger cohort of our, our playing squad at the moment.

And, and we're really chasing that cohesion that allows us to contend for a number of years.

Um, and we think that this group of players playing footy together consistently for that period, and they're playing eighty to a hundred games.

Like, I think you look at our squad at the moment, we've only got two players or three players that have played over two hundred games in our squad.

What, what do you think makes him such a, a good candidate for this role and has what made him such a good appointment for this role, and what do you think he'll add as a, as a senior coach?

But what is it you're able to tell our listeners today that may be in the offing for the Dockers?

Oh, look, obviously Nathan, first and foremost, moving on is, It's something that we've been in discussions with him and his management across the year and him exploring his options and him chasing more consistent footy.

He's been in and out of the team at Freo at times.

And I think the opportunity at Richmond means that he feels like he can play consistent football footy and he'll provide value to them, I'm sure.

And for us, it means that we can really focus in on the draft.

We think that it's an important process with Tassie coming in.

And probably where our list builds out, we've got a number of players contracted beyond 2028 and the demographic of our list, we feel like it's a cohort that are going to play a Florida footy together for a long time.

How to this point have you opted to debrief on the grand final,

But what is it you're able to tell our listeners, uh, today that may be in the offing for the Dockers?

Oh, look, obviously Nathan, first and foremost, moving on is, is something that we've been in discussions with him and his management a- across the year and him exploring his options and, um, him chasing more consistent footy.

He's been out, in and out of the team at Freo at times and, and I think the opportunity at Richmond means that he feels like he can play, um, consistent, uh, AFL footy and he, and he'll provide value to them, I'm sure.

And, and for us, it means that we can really focus in on, on the draft.

We think that it's an important process with, with Tassie coming in.

Uh, and probably where our list builds out.

We- we've got a number of players contracted beyond 2028 and, and the demographic of our list, we feel like it's a cohort that are gonna play a lot of footy together for a long time.

How, how to this point have you, uh, opted to debrief on the grand final, Joe?

But what is it you're able to tell our listeners, uh, today that may be in the offing for the Dockers?

Oh, look, obviously Nathan, first and foremost, moving on is, is something that we've been in discussions with him and his management a- across the year and him exploring his options and, um, him chasing more consistent footy.

He's been out, in and out of the team at Freo at times and, and I think the opportunity at Richmond means that he feels like he can play, um, consistent, uh, AFL footy and he, and he'll provide value to them I'm sure.

And, and for us, it means that we can really focus in on, on the draft.

We think that it's an important process with, with Tassie coming in.

Uh, and probably where our list builds out.

We- we've got a number of players contracted beyond 2028 and, and the demographic of our list, we feel like it's a cohort that are gonna play a lot of footy together for a long time.

H- how to this point have you, uh, opted to debrief on the grand final, Joe?

[laughs]

... um, looking at us two being from, from WA in terms of understanding what it can look like and, and trying to get ahead of those things 'cause there's a mountain of work that goes into it.

So, um, people behind the scenes doing a heap of work, obviously preparing to make sure that everything's in place and, and allowing the, the coaches and players in particular and, uh, performance health team to really focus on executing their roles across the week.

So flew back on Saturday and then took the opportunity to come in on Sunday morning and do a recovery and get ahead of kind of what the week would look like.

There's obviously a fair few new elements that come into it.

And then, uh, it was great that the, the AFL squad were able to head along and watch Peel's performance on, on Sunday afternoon, and that was really pleasing to see the 14 players that represented Peel from a Fremantle perspective, uh, perform at a really high level.

And then gave the players Monday off and, and then Tuesday kind of moved into our usual structure where we, um, go through our line work and then start to look at, at Brisbane, uh, and then into main training today.

But how is Brennan Cox and are you confident that he is ready to go if you want to pick him?

So how has the week been so far, Joe? How is the feel around the club at the moment?

Yeah, it's been really consistent, to be honest.

It's been pretty well planned.

I think there's been a bit of media about it.

There was.

Looking after being from WA in terms of understanding what it can look like and trying to get ahead of those things because, again, There's a mountain of work that goes into it.

So people behind the scenes doing a heap of work, obviously preparing to make sure that everything's in place and allowing the coaches and players in particular and performance health team to really focus on executing their roles across the week.

But how is Brennan Cox and are you confident that he is ready to go if you want to pick him?

But did you speak to the AFL about the number of times your forwards, including Josh, were simply pushed in the back in marking contests early in the game and there were no free kicks, mate?

I won't go into the specifics of what we followed up on.

And look, we've followed up on conversations with the AFL and foreign departments.

consistently across the entire year and by no means does that have anything to do with the result of the game but for us it's more about getting clarity in terms of the cues that the umpires are looking for and how they're looking at umpiring I guess those marking contests that you're alluding to and other aspects of the game so we've done that consistently through the year and sought some of that clarification this week and I guess realign ourselves to make sure that we're really clear and what it looks like and like players and Everyone on game day, there are mistakes made and there's things that were obviously right.

So, yeah, look, it's not something that we've had a significant focus on, but it is something that we've got some clarity on and addressed.

Brennan Cox, is he any chance to play this week? No, no, Brennan will miss this week.

He'll have another week and making sure that we get the right loading into him is one that you can probably look at really taking a risk with him and then going a little bit earlier.

And I guess it was one of the reasons why you brought Brandon Walker back into the team is because there was concern over whether you had the personnel to deal with a number of quality small forwards.

And I guess it was one of the reasons why you brought Brandon Walker back into the team is because there was concern over whether you had the personnel to deal with a number of quality small forwards.

Yeah, I think that what it's probably talking to, Duff, is... across the start of the year and particularly the majority of the season, probably the back end of the last two weeks of the year and obviously the final.

Our ability to defend the ground as a team, I think it's pretty hard when you talk about the strengths of those individuals when you can leave space in the ground, length in the ground and as I said earlier, you turn the ball over in the wrong areas, ultimately you put yourself under a lot of pressure and probably at times unfair to put that solely on our back seven.

So um we were pretty miserly uh as a back seven defense for the majority of the year and that's something we need to get back to um in terms of the team buying to investing in in the individual roles across the ground that can support them so i think that's been a focus for us going into this weekend and ultimately in the footy that we want to play and it's obviously a strength of of geelong's as well you can lock the ball in your front half and get repeat entries or I think you take those strengths away from the opposition.

So that's the real focus for us going into Friday night and we think that when we get that right, our backs one-on-one can obviously contain them.

How do you cope with that if Geelong tries the same thing?

Yeah, there's an intensity that comes with finals football, isn't there? And your ability to stay really composed and making sure you hang on to the ball and show strength when you need to is obviously a critical aspect of that.

And that's something that, obviously, when we go through the game and how we reviewed it, it wasn't something that we felt that we dealt with, as we have done throughout the entire year, at the standard that we want to set.

How has Josh been this week?

Yeah, he's a really proud person, really proud footballer.

And I'm sure that from his perspective, he obviously set himself up to have a a strong performance and, as you said, a number of players and there's factors that play into that in terms of, I guess, those key forwards at times and ball coming in and that can have an impact but, like many players and the way that Josh goes about it from a professionalism perspective, he reviews that in detail with Jamie Graham and look what went right and what went wrong and sets himself up for a really strong performance this weekend.

So, again, as I said, it's not solely on one individual but I'm sure that all the players have been really meticulous and looking at what aspects of their game that they need to really focus in on this Friday night.

And it's a body of work.

A week's a long time in footy's off and there's a body of work across the entire season.

There's a real belief and confidence in our playing group and individual players that play our best brand of footy that stacks up.

Just in terms of Hawthorne and the opposition meetings and all those type of activations you have through the week, what's the one thing that Hawthorne bring that you need to take away?

I think there's a few.

Look, we look at stoppage in contests in finals.

You know better than anyone.

I think their strength around the contest.

You look at Will Day and obviously Newcombe and the impact that they can have.

And we all know in finals as well that there's going to be a fair bit of chaos and mistakes and their composure around the ball and ability to make sure that the scores from stoppage are critical for them.

How's he coping?

Just in terms of Hawthorne and the opposition meetings and all those type of activations you have through the week, what's the one thing that Hawthorne bring that you need to take away?

I think there's a few.

Look, we look at stoppage in contests in finals.

You know better than anyone.

I think their strength around the contest.

You look at Will Day and obviously Newcombe and the impact that they can have.

And we all know in finals as well that there's going to be a fair bit of chaos and mistakes and their composure around the ball and ability to make sure that the scores from stoppage are critical for them.

How's he coping?

And also he has that ability to play on talls and smalls.

Oh, you're right, Duff.

I won't share who's going to play on Watson.

But, oh, look, man, I think you're spot on.

We feel like we've got a mix of matchup players that our backs have done that consistently throughout the year.

And obviously Judd had him earlier in the year.

Chappie's got that ability.

Interesting story on AFL.com.au today by Nathan Schmuck about Justin Longmuir giving every player a link in a chain after the disappointing finals exit against Gold Coast last year and talking about that a chain is only as good as its weakest link and for everyone to come back stronger and Tell us about the changes that Justin's made in terms of his relationships with players off the back of, well, probably that finals loss, but also probably the mid-season disappointing loss to St Kilda where there was a lot of heart-to-heart sessions had amongst the players and it felt like it made you a stronger group.

Given he's a bigger body, he can possibly push him away from dangerous situations, and also he has that ability to play on talls and smalls.

Oh, you're right, Duff.

I won't share who's going to play Watson.

But, oh, look, man, I think you're spot on.

We feel like we've got a mix of matchup players that our backs have done that consistently throughout the year.

And obviously Judd had him earlier in the year.

Chappie's got that ability.

Tell us about the changes that Justin's made in terms of his relationships with players off the back of, well, probably that finals loss, but also probably the mid-season disappointing loss to St Kilda where there was a lot of heart-to-heart sessions had amongst the players and it felt like it made you a stronger group.

Um, and that's probably a pretty good, um, preparation for you as you head into September in a couple of weeks' time.

Oh, and even the game on the weekend, like, and, and the game before that against the Doggies, and we've kind of talked about the different types of methodologies that the teams bring and our ability to adapt to, to them in game, and, um, being able to play and win in different ways is probably been something that we think has, has definitely grown and, and improved.

And as you said, this is a, another different game to what we faced on the weekend against Melbourne.

So, um, you're spot on.

Really strong pressure and, and contest team and, um, the, the aerial game's gonna be critical.

They've got really strong aerial at, at both ends of the ground, whether it's their backs' ability to intercept and then that support their ball movement going forward, or whether their, their key forwards can obviously have an impact on the game with expecting Fogarty back and, um, the likes of, uh, whether Walker plays.

Uh, obviously they've got, um, some real strength around the ground, so...

Is it challenging to come up against teams that have a lot at stake when you're just trying to, A, maintain your footy between now and the finals, but also, B, get there in one piece more than anything else?

Um, and that's probably a pretty good, um, preparation for you as you head into September in a couple of weeks' time.

Oh, and even the game on the weekend, like, and, and the game before that against the Doggies, and we've kind of talked about the different types of methodologies that the teams bring and our ability to adapt to, to them in game and, um, being able to play and win in different ways has probably been something that we think has, has definitely grown and, and improved.

And as you said, this is a, another different game to what we faced on the weekend against Melbourne, so, um, you're spot on.

Really strong pressure and, and contest team and, um, the, the aerial game's gonna be critical.

They've got really strong aerial at, at both ends of the ground, whether it's their backs' ability to intercept and then- That support their ball movement going forward, or whether their, their key forwards can obviously have an impact on the game with expecting Fogarty back and, um, the likes of, uh, whether Walker plays.

Uh, obviously they've got, um, some real strength around the ground, so, uh, and even Dawson at times with his aerial.

So we'll, uh, we'll have a look at that this afternoon, but it's gonna be a big part of the game.

Is it challenging to come up against teams that have a lot at stake when you're just trying to, A, maintain your footy between now and the finals, but also, B, get there in one piece more than anything else?

[laughs]

... um, it's obviously a, a really important...

When you look at the, the power athlete that he is and the, the repeat speed in the game at the moment, um, yeah, we've just got to continue to, to monitor and, and build his loads, and it's something that we're managing in terms of the different roles.

And he'll obviously spend that time inside and then, and be forward, and we'd look to continue to build his midfield minutes.

So it's not one where we look to play him solely as a, a midfielder, and he'll continue to spend some time forward as we, uh, look to get some continuity for him.

Uh, and we know that he's pretty damaging in the front half as well.

So, um, constantly looking at how we build, uh, his strength, uh, from a core perspective, which we think plays a little bit of a part in it.

But yeah, what's your perspective on his development, particularly as a leader at the footy club?

[laughs]

... um, it's obviously, uh, really important when you look at the, the power athlete that he is and the, the repeat speed in the game at the moment.

Um, yeah, we've just gotta continue to monitor and, and build his loads, and it's something that we're managing in terms of the different roles, and he'll obviously spend that time inside and then... and be forward, and we'd look to continue to build his midfield minutes.

So it's not one where we look to play him solely as a, a midfielder, and he'll continue to spend some time forward as we, uh, look to get some continuity for him.

Uh, and we know that he's pretty damaging in the front half as well.

So, um, constantly looking at how we build, uh, his strength, uh, from a core perspective, which we think plays a little bit of a part in it.

But for him, uh, it's, it's building that block of footy 'cause he hasn't played over four games, um, continuously for a little while now, so yeah, we're obviously managing it really closely.

But, yeah, what's your perspective on his development, particularly as a leader at the footy club?

What has changed at the club, do you think, that your recovery mechanisms are so much better that you're able to get up and play strongly and finish games strongly off these shorter breaks?

Well, we've been fairly consistent in the way that our week looks going into games, and I think that's really helped our players prepare and and get down the funnel, as we call it, I guess, and whether we've manipulated our structures in five- and six-day breaks where players might have some extra time off at the front end of the week, but what they get in terms of detail around their programming and their gym and from a football education perspective has allowed us to kind of, every week really feels the same, whether it's a seven-, five-, or a six-day break, which maybe sounds a little bit unusual, but that's been a pretty important, piece of the puzzle and then I guess it's one of those element stuff where as a playing group matures they understand themselves what they need in their own body and the extra work that they're looking to put in and there's also a fair amount of trust in giving them the extra time when they might need to focus more on a recovery in a shorter break than actually being face to face at the club so Adam Beards obviously managing that well with JL in terms of how the weekly structure looks and we'll continue to to trust the group and obviously there's a fair bit of maturity in the way they're handling these breaks themselves.

Contract-wise, significant news to come out of the week, obviously the long-term deal offered to Murphy Reid, which is clearly a massive coup for the club, but also the three-year deal offered to Hugh Davies, who is very much still at this stage a depth defender, but a defender you get the feeling is ready to play if you need him.

Yeah, I guess firstly on Murph, it was just really pleasing.

It speaks volumes to how he feels about the club and how he's feeling about living in WA and where he sees his long-term future to be able to commit until 2032.

It's a great outcome and we're obviously excited about his ceiling.

We think it'll only continue to grow as he gets older.

more exposure to the midfield and what it's brought from a flexibility perspective with our squad and the work that he can do with the likes of Caleb and Bolts and Andy and Youngie through the midfield.

What has changed at the club, do you think, that your recovery mechanisms are so much better that you're able to get up and play strongly and finish games strongly off these shorter breaks?

Well, we've been fairly consistent in the way that our week looks going into games, and I think that's really helped our players prepare and and get down the funnel, as we call it, I guess, and whether we've manipulated our structures in five- and six-day breaks where players might have some extra time off at the front end of the week, but what they get in terms of detail around their programming and their gym and from a football education perspective has allowed us to kind of, every week really feels the same, whether it's a seven-, five-, or a six-day break, which maybe sounds a little bit unusual, but that's been a pretty important, piece of the puzzle and then I guess it's one of those stuff where as a playing group matures they understand themselves what they need in their own body and the extra work that they're looking to put in and there's also a fair amount of trust in giving them the extra time when they might need to focus more on a recovery in a shorter break than actually being face to face at the club so Adam Beards obviously managing that well with JL in terms of how the weekly structure looks and we'll continue to to trust the group and obviously there's a fair bit of maturity in the way they're handling these breaks themselves.

Contract-wise, significant news to come out of the week, obviously the long-term deal offered to Murphy Reid, which is clearly a massive coup for the club, but also the three-year deal offered to Hugh Davies, who is very much still at this stage a depth defender, but a defender you get the feeling is ready to play if you need him.

Yeah, I guess firstly on Murph, it was just really pleasing.

It speaks volumes to how he feels about the club and how he's feeling about living in WA and where he sees his long-term future to be able to commit until 2032 is a great outcome and we're obviously excited about his ceiling.

We think it'll only continue to grow as he gets more exposure to the midfield and what it's brought from a flexibility perspective with our squad and the work that he can do with the likes of Caleb and, and bolts and, and Andy and, and youngie through the midfield.

And, um, I think that's throwing a few different looks at teams as well.

So, uh, fantastic outcome for Murph and the club.

And he talked about being more robust in and around the ball and that's what we saw after half-time, wasn't it? You got that response from the players.

Yeah, we know it's there.

It's not something that has been missing for a year.

It's been at different times in the season.

Our strength in the contest has been a real key component of our stoppage work.

And as I said, when we know, when we lean into it, we can have a period of time where we can get some dominance around that part of the ground and allow us to lock the ball in our front half.

And it was just one where we probably felt we coughed the ball up a little bit at different times, as you said, and then when teams can go out the front and then obviously lock the ball away in their front half it's hard to then get your control back so it's been able to manage different modes and we think that we've had different gears throughout the year and whether that's scoring in our slow play or whether that's we've only got speed on the ball or as you alluded to scoring from stoppage we think that we can go to different avenues in game but it's ultimately taking what the opposition gives us something that we need to look at how we can improve our how centre clearance worked, because obviously in the first half on the weekend, it wasn't at the level expected, but it was a real positive to see that midfield group in particular respond in the second half.

Isaiah Dudley, was that his best game for the club against Port, do you think, Joe? Yeah,

Et il a parlé d'être plus robuste à l'intérieur et autour du ballon, et c'est ce que nous avons vu après la mi-temps, n'est-ce pas ? Vous avez eu cette réponse des joueurs ?

Oui, nous savons que c'est là.

Ce n'est pas quelque chose qu'on a perdu pendant un an.

Il y a eu des moments différents dans la saison.

Notre force dans la compétition a été un élément clé de notre travail de stoppage.

Comme je l'ai dit, nous savons que lorsque nous nous y mettons, nous pouvons avoir un moment où nous pouvons avoir une dominance sur ce côté du terrain et nous permettre de cliquer le ballon dans notre première partie.

C'était juste un moment où nous avons probablement senti que nous avions coupé le ballon un peu à différents moments, comme tu l'as dit.

Dudley, c'était son meilleur match pour le club contre Port, tu penses Joe

Uh, has it sort of exceeded expectations, or was this around about the time that you thought you might be able to, uh, have a decent go at it?

No, Scott, we feel like we've, uh, obviously used a number of different ways of, of building the list, and I think, yeah, you're always looking for the growth in those players that maybe are 16 to kinda 26 on your list, and, uh, maybe not your bona fide stars that everyone talks about.

And I think that's the growth we've probably seen, and you get those through the SSP or the role players that come onto your list, and then you see the growth in the, the likes of Warner, and you see the growth in the likes of Voss and, um, the role players that can come in, in Wagner and, and McDonald on your list, and they just become critical.

We've obviously targeted a fair few WA boys in, in recent years as well, when you look at Luke Jackson coming back and Boltz, uh, and Jordie Clark, and they become really important from a specific role perspective.

So, um, we feel like the list is in a good place at the moment, but we think that there's still plenty of scope for growth.

Uh, and we'll keep looking at all the different options that we can use, and obviously it's gonna become really critical in the years to come with, with Tassie coming in.

But, um, proud of the work that the walls in the list management team have done to date, and we feel like, um, we'll keep looking at avenues and where we can, uh, improve our list.

H- how's he fitted in around the club, Mason?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I always think, do you remember that movie Baghdad Cafe? Yes, but very vaguely.

Carry on.

Well, this German woman gets dropped in the middle of the Mohovi Desert and she gets to this cafe and it's dull and lifeless.

And she takes over the cafe and she makes it wonderful and people come from everywhere to go to the cafe.

Bublé gate.

Vous avez pratiqué le goal-kicking cette semaine, et quand vous avez une nuit comme celle-là, comment allez-vous rectifier votre goal-kicking et s'assurer que ça ne joue pas sur les pensées des joueurs ?

Oui, nous pratiquons tous les week-ends.

Ce n'est pas quelque chose que nous avions prévu.

Je pense que nous avons eu 10 ou 11 coups parce qu'il y en a eu quelques-uns qui ont été dégagés sur le snap ou qui ont été dégagés dans le full.

Je pense que vous pouvez...

Je sens qu'il y a une grande croissance en termes de la calme que nous sommes, que ce soit d'un point de vue de la banque ou du point de vue de la boxe des coachs, quand ces choses se passent.

Parce que le jeu est toujours en train de se voir comme on l'a voulu, en termes d'opportunités pour avoir le ballon dans la première half.

de ce week-end, et il s'occupe de ce week-end, c'est d'obtenir les 4 points contre les Suns.

what were the expectations at that time around 2016 where it was clear that the club was, was going to have to transition? Has it taken longer? Has it, has it, you know, gone to expectations? Has it been a bit quicker? What, uh, you know, tell us about that process across 10 years.

Yeah.

Oh, look, I think you've probably got to break it down to two different strategies.

I don't think there's been consistency in, in the leadership over that time.

Um, Obviously, at that point in time, a different list manager and senior coach and CEO.

He probably looked to 2019 when Justin and Simon Garlick obviously came into their roles.

And I've obviously been involved in roles as our chief operating officer.

Dr Adam Beard is the one that heads that.