Q. Why are we playing players who are not performing? Don’t you think some time in the VFL would do them good? Look at Joel Bowden at Richmond – don’t be afraid to drop great out of form players. You don’t need me to tell you who these players are. (Frederick Borg)
A. In this environment you are only one week away from turning your form around. Sometime you show a little faith in those individual players, hoping that they will repay you. Sometimes your patience runs out and then is when you have to put players back in the VFL to gain some form.
Q. What do you think of Mark Johnson’s season? To me, he seems to have gone backwards since last year, which in turn was worse than the previous year when he tore the game apart from the back pocket. He doesn’t often appear in the best player’s list. His tackling, smothering and other one-percenters are down and the trademark ""don’t argue"" seems to be gone. (Damon Beckwith)
A. Mark has been played in a lot of positions this year. He probably really needs to settle down in one and take ownership of that. That is what he has done in the past when he has played his best football.
Q. I want to congratulate Adam McPhee on his great season, but in the past couple of weeks he has been pinged for running too far. What can you do to help him overcome this? (Anthea Santos)
A. When looking it on the video, his distance has been within the rules, but because he is such a long strider it looks like he does actually run further. We have to teach Adam to release the football maybe one step earlier, but it is actually a bonus that he is getting the football and running. We are not going to tell him not to do it, it is just about the timing and when to get rid of it.
Q. After promoting Andrew Lovett from the rookie list, do you think he will get a game in the next three weeks? I feel he would be a good crumbing goalsneak. (Glenn Sperling)
A. He was heavily talked about at selection this week. If he puts in another good performance in the VFL, he will come under consideration for the following games.
