Senior Coach Brad Scott fronted the media ahead of the Bombers' quick turnaround heading to Perth this week.
Ruck Vigo Visentini's debut was announced by Scott for the Fremantle clash, which hosts a Dons side keen to bounce back from a disappointing finish in last week's defeat to Geelong.
Scott's key talking points from the presser:
Scott on... takeaways from Geelong
The scores from turnovers are still the major issue in the game, but, you know, Geelong do a really good job of forcing you into errors and we were trying to force it a little bit too hard to try and create things that went there.
As I said post-game, it’s a harsh lesson, but a lesson we've got to learn. We don't just move on too quickly - we've got our five day break between games - but we've really got to learn the valuable lessons and improve from a performance like that.
Clearly we've got our challenges at the moment, but this is what personally I get really optimistic about as a Coach, because they're brutal and harsh lessons at the time, but this is where you get the most benefit over time.
Scott on... staying steady in second half of the season
You can't turn around and say that we haven't had poor second halves of the year in the last two years, but the thing you've got to dig down on is the reason for why that is.
We've got a lot to work on in our game and we've got to use this period at the moment to really improve. I think we've shown over, what is it probably eight, nine quarters out of 12, we've been competitive and probably more than competitive in those periods of games. The challenge with where we're at at the moment is putting it together over the 125 minutes.
Our focus isn't on a block of games. It's on putting together the short-term, which is quarter on quarter and then game to game. If you do that well enough, then the second half of the year will take care of itself.
Scott on... the youngsters
(Those young) guys who have come in throughout the year have performed really well and that's the challenge for us to be able to get consistent performances out of those guys.
We understand the challenges they face, but it's a massive opportunity. And it is a bit of a baptism of fire, but, you know, what a way to start your career, to come in and play not just roles, but really influential, important roles.
They want answers, they want to improve, they want to see the areas that they can improve, and we can give them really clear lessons on that. Sometimes young players can just not consciously, but subconsciously drift through the first couple of years of their career because they're seen as developing players. Our developing players are playing key roles and key roles against stars of the competition.
Scott on... Vigo Visentini
Yeah, we're going to play Visentini this week.
Goldstein has been unbelievable in what he's been asked to do and what he has delivered but he's at the point where we feel we’ve still got half the season to get through.
We’ve been planning to play Vigo at some point and this is the opportunity for him to come in, so we're really excited about that. It's a challenge, no doubt, in Perth for obvious reasons, but he's performed really well at VFL level and this is not something that we're springing on him, so we'll have him as ready as he possibly can be.
