That would've been, uh, quite a nice group.

Yeah, it was a, a tremendous group of guys to coach, and Ryan Crowley in there as well, Nick Suban, um, Steven Hill and Tendai Mzumgwa on the wings.

A brilliant group of guys.

Really enjoyed every minute of it.

Um, and they did a pretty good job on the day, and it was interesting you mention that, that part of it, um, Duff, because leading into that game all week, the talk was about Ryan Crowley tagging Sam Mitchell.

Um, and it was almost like e- everyone knew it was gonna happen before the, the game even started.

And I remember saying to Ross at one point, now I don't want to sound like the assistant coach in hindsight, because we've all got better views in hindsight, haven't we? But I did say to Ross at one point, "Why don't we send him to Burg- Burgoyne and do something different?" Because they're expecting Mitchell to get tagged, so they'll plan for that, and Ross just, uh, he, he didn't wanna do it.

Yeah.

It would have been quite a nice group.

Yeah, it was a tremendous group of guys to coach, and Ryan Crowley in there as well, Nick Subin, Stephen Hill, and Tendai Mzungu on the wings.

Brilliant group of guys, really enjoyed every minute of it.

And they did a pretty good job on the day.

And it was interesting you mentioned that part of it, Duff, because leading into that game all week, the talk was about Ryan Crowley tagging Sam Mitchell.

And it was almost like everyone knew it was going to happen before the game even started.

And I remember saying to Ross at one point, and I don't want to sound like the assistant coach in hindsight because we've all got better views in hindsight, haven't we? But I did say to Ross at one point, why don't we send him to Burgoyne? and do something different because they're expecting Mitchell to get tagged.

How many grand finals have you been to at AFL level with how many clubs?

But a couple of that have impressed you through the year?

Yeah, there's a few, guys.

You're right about Charlie Dean.

He's an incredible character and a great leader.

But there's some guys that have impressed in terms of not so much being standout players, but just with their fighting spirit.

I mean, we've unearthed a young kid called Will Tilby who's attracted a lot of the eyes of the scouts, the talent scouts in the AFL.

But there's some guys like Archer Gardner, Luke Hallett, young Bray Shaw, Catchard and Wills.

really

But a couple of that have impressed you through the year?

Yeah, there's a few, guys.

You're right about Charlie Dean.

He's an incredible character and a great leader.

But there's some guys that have impressed in terms of not so much being standout players, but just with their fighting spirit.

I mean, we've unearthed a young kid called Will Tilby, who's attracted a lot of the eyes of the scouts, the talent scouts in the AFL.

But there's some guys like Archer Gardner, Luke Hallett, young Bray Shaw, Catchard and Wills.

Yeah, really weird.

How much would it change if it became the young ruckman Aidan Riddle leading the ruck and not one of the other two?

I would change a fair bit.

Sean Darcy's elite at what he does, and particularly at state level.

He's pretty good at AFL level, isn't he? Yeah.

But at state level, you know, he gives them a real good first look.

I was so impressed with what he did against us in the sense that he scans the stoppage really quickly and sees where free players are and then turns his body and shape and taps it in that direction.

And the connection they have is so good that if you're a little bit late getting to the stoppage or you don't have every exit covered, they'll find a way to... to get first possession and get out.

How have they been tracking? And just tell us about the contribution that they make to your club and their ability to transform you from battlers to contenders.

How much would it change if it became the young ruckman Aidan Riddle leading the ruck and not one of the other two?

I would change a fair bit.

Sean Darcy's elite at what he does, and particularly at state level.

He's pretty good at AFL level, isn't he? Yeah.

But at state level, you know, he gives them a real good first look.

I was so impressed with what he did against us in the sense that he scans the stoppage really quickly and sees where free players are and then turns his body and shape and and taps it in that direction.

And the connection I have is so good that if you, if you're a little bit late getting to the stoppage or you don't have everything, every exit covered, they'll find a way to, to get first possession and get out.

How have they been tracking? And just tell us about the contribution that they make to your club and their ability to transform you from battlers to contenders.

How important is that attitude piece that you're just talking then, embracing conditions, controlling the controllables and just having that mindset of we want to be better than average?

Oh, it's incredibly important.

And, you know, the talk about eight-point games is a bit of an old cliche, but it is true, isn't it? You know, If you can beat a team that's around you, then other teams are beating each other as well.

So first place second this week and I think third place fourth or something like that.

But yeah, we in the past have allowed outside incidents or situations to control us.

And we've got a pretty young group and we've got some guys that have been at Perth for a long time.

And those guys that have been there for a long time have suffered some horrible losses in their time.

So in a nutshell, if you can give us 30 seconds if you can, but Ryan is very keen to know more.

So how did you get it done Stoney? What was the key to it do you think?

I just I think it's being able to play you know as the saying goes for four quarters when you play good teams they'll challenge you for the whole game and if you can fight for a period and compete for a period but then fall away you won't beat them and Interestingly, Duff, in my time there, we've talked about some of the barriers against some of the teams.

For example, we'd spoken about how East Fremantle, until last year, had beaten us in the last eight times we'd played them.

And there's records like that against Subiaco and a lot of the teams.

And this week, I just said, righto, boys, I don't want to go down that path.

I want to talk about a new version of us because, you know, Three quarters of our team don't know anything about the history with us in Claremont and the record that stands and win-loss in the most recent years.

So let's talk about what a new version of us can do and what we can produce.

If you can keep him going and he keeps hitting the scoreboard, you're going to be pretty potent in attack, aren't you? Because Aaron Clarke has become a real mainstay of that forward 50 and just keeps on kicking anywhere from two to five goals for you pretty much every week.

So how did you get it done Stoney? What was the key to it do you think?

I just I think it's being able to play you know as the saying goes for four quarters when you play good teams they'll challenge you for the whole game and if you can fight for a period and compete for a period but then fall away you won't beat them and Interestingly, Duff, in my time there, we've talked about some of the barriers against some of the teams.

For example, we'd spoken about how East Fremantle, until last year, had beaten us in the last eight times we'd played them.

And there's records like that against Subiaco and a lot of the teams.

And this week, I just said, righto, boys, I don't want to go down that path.

I want to talk about a new version of us because, you know, Three quarters of our team don't know anything about the history with us in Claremont and the record that stands of win-loss in the most recent years.

So let's talk about what a new version of us can do and what we can produce.

If you can keep him going and he keeps hitting the scoreboard, you're going to be pretty potent in attack, aren't you? Because Aaron Clark has become a real mainstay of that forward 50 and just keeps on kicking anywhere from two to five goals for you pretty much every week.