FOLLOWING a performance which yielded career-best numbers, Sam Walsh fronted the media after Sunday's win against Adelaide.
With 38 disposals (his most in a single game), Walsh also produced 28 uncontested possessions, nine score involvements and nine inside 50s.
Here's what he had to say in his press conference earlier today.
On the feeling after a win:
It’s obviously a good feeling today when you’re a bit sore and run down after a game: it’s good to break it up with a win under your belt. It’s something we’ve been wanting to build towards and we hadn’t been getting the results. To see our fans pretty happy after the game, it was good to walk off the field.
I think we’re pretty aware that there’s a bit we have to work on, we’re under no illusions that we’re not in the position that we want to be in. That’s for a variety of reasons and that’s up to us to take a bit of ownership and keep going forward. It was a good win on the weekend but it’s only one game so we’ve got a big one against Freo this week. We’re going to be up against a good side there.
On the team's focus:
Our defensive stuff has been a bit of a focus at the moment: you’ve got to be able to hold whole teams against their scoring runs and I thought we did that well at times. There are always going to be things to work on but I thought we didn’t allow them to have easy scores which we probably have in the past weeks.
We played it a bit more on our terms which helped and then around the contest, I thought we played some smart footy at times and obviously got a run on in that second quarter which was nice to execute. There were a few little changes but we’ve got to just keep chipping away.
On the returns of Kennedy, Dow and Petrevski-Seton:
It was so good to see them go back [and perform] in the VFL, that’s a challenge in itself and then come back and perform, I’m sure they’ll build confidence off that. For those guys, continuity is going to be massive. They’ve had a few niggles with injuries and a bit of consistency so I feel like they’ve got outstanding strengths as players and my role as a leader is to keep embracing them and hopefully get the positive out of all the playing group.
On Cripps re-signing:
I’m sure if you ask any guy on the list, they’re happy to put the team in a good position by their actions. With 'Crippa', it’s a testament to him really. I’ve always said he’s an outstanding player but his character off the field is what holds this club in such good stead and he’s been a great leader for the Club. For him to commit like that really sent a message to us.
On the Fremantle challenge:
They’re a good team. We played against them earlier in the year and they’ll probably want to come out and set the tone against us. It’s up to us to play our own brand of footy and really go at them hard because we know they’re a good team and they’re good around the contest as well.
On his own development:
I think I’ve had really good support around me. The progression through my last three years has allowed me to go on-ball and probably have a bit more opportunity through there. I’ve always said my running ability is probably going to be my main strength and that’s what I’ve always tried to bring to the table for the team.
Off the back of that, I’ve been trying to work on a bit of my contest work which is still a work in progress but something I feel like will take my game to the next level. It was great yesterday: I feel like we started to play well as a team and really use the ball and work for each other which is something we want to work on going forward.
