ALL angles covered.

From the offensive, defensive and contest modes of the game, this Saturday's preliminary final between Brisbane and Carlton have storylines and key match-ups wherever you look.

In the lead-up, the assistant coaches at the Blues - Ash Hansen, Aaron Hamill and Tim Clarke - fronted the media at IKON Park earlier this week for an all-encompassing look as the Blues prepare to fight it out in the final four for the first time since 2000.

This is what they had to say.

Ash Hansen

On the selections squeeze up forward:

“This is what we’re paid to do! It’s a great problem to have. We’re certainly going to lose some sleep over it, not through confusion but rather making the right selection call to give the team the best chance to compete and win a prelim. We’ll put a lot of time into it, be very analytical and assess it from multiple angles.

“There are going to be some really disappointed guys that have put in a mountain of work that deserve to play, and we’d be really comfortable to play. But 26 doesn’t go into 23 on game day: we’ll respect the person and respect the decision we have to make as a group.”

On what Harry McKay provides for the team:

“Sometimes it’s intangible what players can do for a group, and certainly around finals there’s a mystique attached to what players do. Guys walk taller when Harry is out there. It reduces Charlie’s workload, which allows him to be more energetic and dynamic in other contests because he doesn’t have to get to every contest, which was demanded of him last weekend against a really good opponent. Those things you can’t measure. You can try and quantify it through stats: Harry is super important to us, in the last game he played he was the leading score involvement player before he went off and he was having an impact.”

“Are you bemused by some of the chat around him?”  “Yes.”

“Can you give us a stronger word than bemused?”  “Flabbergasted. Shocked. I understand things create great debate like ‘who’s the best, Lebron or Michael Jordan?’. That’s a hard question. This is a really easy question. We’re a better team with Harry in it. I don’t know what else to say!”

On Jack Martin’s impact:

“Just through contested possession wins and the pressure he applies, the match-up he forces of the defence by being an air and ground threat. He has started to get continuity in his training which has transferred to his performances. Having a break is probably a good thing for him, because he had a long run there where he was performing at a really high level and off an interrupted pre-season, you don’t have that base. It’s exciting to have him up for selection. He’s a pretty special player in the front half. Finals are built around contest wins and finding a way — he’s a competitor.”

On Carlton’s uptick in scores since mid-season:

“Our shot quality improved. We went to work on not necessarily getting more shots, but improving the quality of our shots when we went forward. The offensive finish starts at the beginning in terms of where that chain starts, and the dynamic nature of our play changed. Our front half had more space to work into and there were more one on ones. We started to maximise turnover and win a little bit more from stoppage, where we were in really good positions in one-versus-one contests. It’s an accumulation of a number of things, but that’s what started to transpire. We started to turn the ball over in really great spaces off the back of great defence. When the opposition is displaced, you can get some easier shots on goal.”

On the benefits of dual-position players:

“Anytime a player can play dual roles, we’ve tried to develop that in a lot of our players which you’ve probably seen if you look through where guys have played this year. It gives you so much scope on game day to be flexible around selection and the opposition. For Matty Kennedy to be able to spend more time forward last week, it certainly adds to his chances for selection this week given he can be a powerful mid for us and can play forward. It gives us greater depth and you can change something when there’s an injury, not that you plan for an injury.”

On approaching Harris Andrews the same way as Jake Lever:

“Last week with our availability, Lever became a greater threat because of Harry and Jack Martin not being there. Whether we take the same tactical approach if those guys were there, we’re probably forcing Lever to defend us a little bit more rather than him having a bit more free rein. There are different ways you look at it with your make-up and what poses the greatest threat. Harris Andrews’ ability to read the flight and what Payne has been doing in his defence, we’ll have to respect Andrews’ positioning and his contest and forcing him to defend.”

Aaron Hamill

On matching up against the Lions on their home deck:

“They’re stacked with talent, so limiting their supply will be the aim. Don’t give them their 60 entries, if we can stifle their supply that’s the aim. It’s clearly going to be a clearance battle: they’re very good at stoppage and a front-half game, everyone knows it’s about stopping and nullifying it. We’re aware of what’s coming, they’ve been playing that way for a while. They’re stacked with talent in the front half, so the idea would be to limit their supply and get a fair share of ours.”

On Carlton’s defensive mix:

“We feel we’re quite a hybrid back seven that we’ve gone with. It’s quite a unique blend back there . . . we feel we’ve got a balance of speed, power and endurance as well as a fair bit of punch with run and overlap. We’re a system-based defence: we’ll have a couple of match-ups as the week unfolds, but we feel we can cater for any type of forward line.”

On Caleb Marchbank’s return to senior football:

“It is [a great story]. The numbers of years he sat out, it’s a credit to him. While he’s had some really strong moments and some good times, he’s had a heap of lulls as well. To see him up and running, his ability to keep churning out rehab sessions and the diligence he has shown, there’s no surprise to see him back. An old teammate of mine Nick Riewoldt kept asking about him around ‘when’s he back?’, because he feels how much value he adds: Caleb used to get Nick quite often and do the job. We know that his output is high and he’s a quality defender. It’s a credit to him and our performance staff to get him on the park. He’s done well.”

On how the Club turned things around:

“It was led by ‘Vossy’. He knew, it’s not the first time he’s been through adversity or challenges: every coach goes through it, every coaching group goes through it and every club does. He was really consistent and methodical in his approach, he didn’t waver, he didn’t bend at all on what we needed to get after. It was really obvious what we needed to get after. We knew our pressure wasn’t at the level and our defence wasn’t at the level, so we went hard at that. It really started from the top, with Brian Cook, Luke Sayers and a real steadfast approach.

“The experience those guys have had, we were able to channel it down to the footy department which was led by ‘Vossy’ and Brad Lloyd. Our message was really consistent to keep creating an environment for the players to flourish. It’s a credit to them, they bought into it and it was well-led by the leaders of the footy club.”

On Mitch McGovern’s form line:

“Really strong: we know what we’re getting from him. He’s quite an intelligent footballer and we know the skill he’s got at either end of the ground. We feel down back he gives us a real point of difference with his intercept game but also what he does with ball in hand. We’ve missed a little bit of that with Zac Williams not being there outside of ‘Saady’. We’ve had ‘Boydy’ and Lachie Cowan, but they’re quite young, so we needed a bit more punch out of there. ‘Gov’ has given us that as well. We’ve seen him play on Jamie Elliot and the smaller types, but he can easily roll over to a McCarthy or a Bailey. We like the flexibility he gives us.”

“He’s had a significant journey and a maligned one externally, but internally we knew if we were able to get him right, we knew what he was able to offer. That’s what he’s done. He’s a pro with how he goes about things now and he’s got an understanding of what it takes day by day to get himself to the line. He’s certainly done that.”

On the cohesiveness of the defensive group:

“It was just continuity. We haven’t had that, we didn’t have it last year. With that continuity and the understanding of a game plan as well, it does take some time to have a good understanding of that and then implement it. We do a fair bit of training around that, but you do get an audit every week you play and you get feedback every week you play. There were times last year where we didn’t get it right, there were times this year where we weren’t getting it right. We’re just hoping we get it more right than wrong in terms of throughout the game.

“They’re only to get better with it with the more understanding they have. The most impressive part of it is they don’t lie down, they don’t yield. That’s been the most impressive part. They’ve got a good understanding of the will to fight and compete. That’s half the battle playing in defence, and they thrive in that and they really cherish that part.”

Tim Clarke

On the Patrick Cripps v Josh Dunkley in Round 8:

“It was a good learning game for us. ‘Crippa’ is a student of the game. He’s had moments throughout his career where he’s been beaten by another player and it’s a great opportunity for him to learn and build his game. It makes him better prepared for the next time he plays them. He can’t wait for the opportunity to come up against not only Dunkley, but Brisbane’s midfield.

“[Dunkley] hasn’t been doing that role in recent weeks as consistently as he was earlier in the year. ‘Crippa’ is coming off the back of a really solid game . . . he might come and ask for that match-up. He’s the kind of guy that likes to step into any challenge. We’re really excited, whether it’s a Dunkley or Neale or McCluggage, a lot of their midfielders are in good form and we can’t wait to play them.”

On Sam Walsh’s finals campaign so far:

“You only have to watch Sammy train and the way he prepares to understand how he executes a game like he did on the weekend. He’s as competitive as any other player as you’ll see with the way he trains and prepares. Yes, he’s missed some footy this year, but he has prepared as well as anyone. He loves the big stage, he loves a big moment and the thing we liked most about his game was his pressure and his contest. The other stuff was a byproduct of that.”

On Carlton’s brand stacking up in September:

“The way that we play suits finals footy. We’re a contested team, we love pressure and defence. We love living in that space. For us, finals footy suits the players we have. You only have to look at our last two games against Sydney and Melbourne, that’s what the game was about: it was a high-contest, high-turnover style of footy and we enjoyed it. I’m sure that Saturday night’s game is going to be pretty similar and the boys are prepared for that.”

On tagging Lachie Neale:

“It’s been something spoken about quite a bit lately, which Chris Fagan has even mentioned himself — Brisbane’s midfield is a lot deeper than Lachie Neale. We view it that way. They’ve got some really talented players in there, and Lachie Neale is one of them: he’s a super player. A lot of players have watched what he does around stoppages and there’s no doubt that there’ll be some work put into Lachie at some stage in the game. We’ve got to prepare for a really strong battle against a lot of their midfielders.” 

On more numbers rolling through the Carlton midfield:

“For us it’s been about sharing the load. We’ve got a lot of players in our team that can play through the midfield, and giving opportunities to guys that can come in and play in the midfield really supports their game. If it’s someone that spends a lot of time forward, to play minutes through the midfield is really good for his game and he adds something different to our group. We’ve managed to be able to do that for most of this season, and it allows other players to play less game time or have stints forward: we feel that mix has been working for us.”

On Ollie Hollands’ sub cameo last week:

“Hollands has played his role all year for us, he’s been terrific when he’s been on the wing. We know whether it’s as a sub or playing as a wing for the whole game, he’s going to go and execute his role. We felt in the last 15-20 minutes of that quarter, he did that, but he also added some big moments in the game which is what finals are about. You look at Blake Acres and he played his role really well on the night, and bobbed up with two or three really big moments. We love that about our guys that are playing at the moment: they’re executing their role really well and standing up when the moment arrives.”