Senior Coach Brad Scott fronted the media following this afternoon’s 64‑point loss to Brisbane at Marvel Stadium, addressing another challenging result against top‑end opposition. 

Scott reflected on where the game was lost, particularly at centre bounce, praised the resilience of several emerging players, and provided updates on midfield strategy and injuries as the club continues to navigate a demanding stretch of the season.

All of Scott’s key talking points below.

Brad on… the Brisbane matchup

I think when you're playing a very good opposition, it’s always going to be a challenge in the contest.

It was a bit of a similar story to last week, around-the-ground stoppages were very good, we won that battle pretty comprehensively, but then we just get annihilated at centre bounce.

We conceded 10 scoring shots from the centre bounce and probably other opportunities in that as well. When you concede 45 points from centre bounce, it puts you on the back foot.

In the first quarter, our inability to get up and defend was really poor. I think the adjustment in the second quarter was positive.

It’s really hard to build any sort of momentum, but it’s really hard to sit here after a ten-goal loss and say there were things that worked well for us in the contest.

The mid-arc ramble, which they’re very good at, we won that pretty convincingly. But we’re playing against a very good opposition, when you make mistakes, they make you pay, and they did that very well to us. They had periods of the game where they just racked up scoreboard pressure.

The opportunity for Dyson Sharp to play as a permanent inside midfielder against one of the best mids in the comp, and for Sullivan Robey to play really high game time as a permanent inside mid, we’ve said it all along, we’re very optimistic about these kids that you haven’t seen much of.

We played four out of our five draftees and I think they all acquitted themselves really well.

Brad on… midfield availability and development

Darcy Parish, given his history, was a bit sore and it was deemed not worth the risk to play. So that’s why he’s listed as managed, because he’s not injured.

Elijah Tsatas does some things really well. He’s been fantastic in working with the coaching group on the things he needs to improve, and we’re going to double down on working with him on those things.

Brad on… Nate Caddy

He’s exceptional with his ability to create space.

Harris Andrews is such a dominant player that he can force you wide a little bit, so while Caddy had a lot of shots from wider than we would have liked, his ability to get off his opponent was positive.

He’s a really exciting player for us at the moment, and in his third year to be leading our forward line, there are not many teams in the competition that ask a third-year player to do that.

Brad on… Nik Cox’s return

Long-term injuries are one thing when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but when you’ve got genuine questions as to whether you’re ever going to recover from the symptoms you’re having, it can be a dark and lonely place.

We’ve done our best to support him through this. We’re just rapt for  (Nik Cox) to get back out and play footy and do a good job today.

Brad on… injuries

Saad‑El Hawli has a broken collarbone and Jye Caldwell rolled his ankle, but we don’t know the severity yet.