AHEAD of the team's trip to Gold Coast this weekend, Michael Voss is confident that his team has the ability to adapt to any changes that may be thrown at them.
With their first interstate game for the season upon them, here's what Voss had to say.
On AFL Health and Safety Protocols:
"We’re just staying flexible and adaptable enough to adjust accordingly when these things crop up: it’s not convenient, but we just work through it.
"I think the players have really taken on that it’s 'next man in' who is needed and we’ve seen it amongst our staff and it’s happened amongst our players. It’s just the current environment and landscape that we have to manoeuvre through."
On reviewing the Hawthorn game:
"Even when the game is going really well for us and we walk out with a few things right, we still always look at growth.
"We’ve always said from the start that it’ll be progressive in the way we attack this year and we said that we haven’t got the full version of ourselves just yet, but the boys have really bought into that and are looking to grow different parts of our game.
"We’ve got some real strong fundamentals right and it’s given us a great base to work with but we’re also realistic in knowing we’ve got plenty left in us."
On the backline:
"I think we’re underselling the people in the area to be truthful. The guys that have come in and done a great job, Oscar [McDonald] missed one week, [Lewis] 'Youngy' came in and played really well.
"These guys are really familiar with our system, they’re really familiar with playing with each other based on what we’ve trained over the pre-season. I think it’s a credit to the guys that have been able to step in and establish trust amongst one another, be really clear about the jobs that they need to be able to get done and they’re doing it really well.
"The back six or seven, they take great pride in being able to hold up when they need to and I just thought they were super last week at the back-end of that game. When they needed to stand strong, they did that, and we’ll need that constantly throughout the season."
On Gold Coast and Matt Rowell:
"We’ve taken a bit of a system approach to be fair. We haven’t paid any specific attention to players outside of what we want in our system and when it’s a different guys’ turn to do it, they do it.
"If someone in the game is getting off the chain a little bit, then we’ll give it some more attention. Clearly every team has their own strengths, we don’t pour it into one person because that would be ignoring the others.
"Gold Coast had a loss on the weekend, but if you look at their form across the pre-season and early parts of the season, it’s been really strong. They bring a real contested brand of footy, they play their ground exceptionally well so we’re going to have to make sure that we bring our best."
On midfield rotations:
"I think it’s still evolving to be truthful. I think we’re still trying to figure out what those percentage splits look like for us.
"We’d like to think if we do have those options available to us, that we can throw different players in there according to what the game is presenting at the time. One thing I’m loving about the mid group and us as a collective is that they’re prepared to take their turn when it’s their turn, and they’re prepared to step aside and let someone else shine when they need to.
"It’s been a real strength of this group, they’re really determined to make that part of their brand. How that looks, I imagine it would change on a week-to-week basis."
