Q. Sitting eighth on the ladder is new ground for this team.
A. We have worked hard and we have lost a number of good players over the last couple of years, but we have probably held it together a little bit. There would not be many football teams that would be able to cope with even Mercuri and Lucas being out for five weeks, as well as Hird and Lloyd for nine weeks. We are still in the eight at the moment, hanging in there and I think the players realise that. Up to Round 15 you have had a good look at what the other sides have got and now there are seven games with a run to the chance of the finals, and it is up to us to get our act together from that point of view.
Q. You have moulded a lot of kids down at Essendon, you must be happy with what Bomber Thompson has done at Geelong?
A. He has done a marvelous job. I read in the Age on the weekend that 10 players haven't played 50 games. Well, we could say the same thing but no one would ever consider writing that about Essendon. I would say last week we had nine players would not have played 50 games. It is pretty close between Essendon and Geelong and a lot of people don't realise that Essendon is one of the youngest sides in the AFL.
Q. Is Chris Heffernan training tonight?
A. No, he is having a night off. We trained this morning at 8am indoors - we are getting softer and softer!
Q. Will Heffernan play this week?
A. Yes, he will play. He is resting tonight. Some of the players that have played all year, we give them a night off every now and again and so we should.
Q.Will you make many changes - will Fletcher be in?
A. I hope he will be in and he could play forward. The backline has been pretty strong and very good over the last five weeks. We have probably been the second best defensive unit in the AFL, which is a pretty good effort. We might be able to play Fletcher in the forward line and that would take a pretty good player to man up Lucas, Lloyd, Hird and Fletcher.
Q. How hard is it to man up Geelong's forward line - with guys like Kingsley and Steve Johnson popped up last week and kicked four goals?
A. For a kid that has played five games, four goals is a sensational effort. Geelong has done a pretty good deal when you look at the trade with the North Melbourne boys. Kingsley and Mooney they are 40 game players and they are playing great footy.
Q. Are Geelong hard to match up on?
A. Everyone is hard a match-up if you are on the button. Geelong was on the button last week and they got out of the blocks pretty good. When Collingwood put the pressure on them, they really lifted and answered that challenge in the last quarter.
Q. The Bombers are the under-dogs this week?
A. I would think so. We are trying to beat someone ahead of us on the ladder.
Q. Do you equate your situation to 1998, when you were struggling to make the finals?
A. I think we were up there in 1998 to be quite honest. We got to the knock out final against North and we were right on the doorstop there with 10 minutes to go and a couple of goals went to North and that put us out of the finals race. Probably a bit more experienced in some areas than that and we have the capacity to come back - players like Mercuri and Misiti that are still out.
Q. Is Joe Misiti still a few weeks away?
A. Joe will play next week.
Q. In the VFL or the seniors?
A. I don't know. It depends how he trains.
Q. When will Mercuri be back?
A. Mercuri won't play for two weeks. That isn't bad, because you would not want them both back in the same week.
Q. You would have been happy that Cameron Ling was rubbed out for one week last night at the AFL tribunal?
A. Ling has done marvelous. At one stage he was playing at full-forward and he has become a fantastic mid-fielder. He is a very, very good player - it would be like having Fletcher out.
Q. Has the side relaxed with Hird and Lloyd coming back into the team?
A. It is hard to say but the two games that Hird and Lloyd have played will do them the world of good. It will be good to have Fletcher back.
