Q. How is James Hird travelling?
A. Well hopefully he will be back this week and we will see how he is feeling. It is amazing that we got up and had a good win without him – we will be pleased to get him back in town and find out what the damages are. I wouldn’t be expecting him to play for some time yet.
Q. There has been speculation that he won’t return this year – what are your thoughts?
A. I don’t if people have said that regarding the medical experts. We would have to take everything on board and so would Jim I imagine – your health is your wealth.
Q. It must have been disappointing to lose Joe Misiti on Friday night?
A. That is just the way it goes sometimes – it happens in threes and fours. It is bad luck for Joe because he has been in very solid form. It will get the club and the group of people around this footy club to really work harder together to make sure we create our opportunities for the year 2002. It was great to have Scotty Lucas back last week against Carlton – he has missed about six weeks of the seven so far. We have our backs up against the wall at the moment.
Q. Paul Salmon played a fantastic game in his return match - you must have been happy?
A. It is amazing – I don’t think there would have been a player in the last 50 years that would have come back at 37 years of age. I remember sitting down and talking to Bart Cummings and I asked him why he took over a horse called Rogan Josh at seven years of age and he said – did it matter, he horse was alright, he hadn’t been hit or hurt much and he had a good rest for a quite some time. Why not try it – I was a bit inspired by that. The last two ruckman we have drafted, the total overall age is 68 years – John Barnes and Paul Salmon.
