DAVID Teague spoke to the media ahead of the Round 18 clash with Collingwood.
Here were the key talking points for the Senior Coach ahead of the weekend.
On Collingwood and selection news:
"It’s business as usual at the moment. We’re looking forward to playing Collingwood, it’s the Peter Mac Cup for us and they’re great rivals. We’re really looking forward to that challenge, they’ve played some good footy of late so we’re preparing to play them here at the MCG.
"Liam [Jones] is tracking really well so hopefully he’ll get through today and Saturday in our captain’s run and then play this weekend."
On player mindset due to COVID:
"Some players love it, some players think they’re in a boarding school camp, having a ball with their mates and then other players find it harder. Every player and staff member are different so we need to understand that and you need to put in support networks that are different for each person."
On goalkicking:
"It’s a constant improvement area for us over the whole season. The guys are working really hard and it’s been disappointing, it is an area we have to get better at.
"The week before we were 10.3 at one stage: that’s not the norm for us. We have to continue to work and continue to look at our shots and make sure we’re getting good quality shots.
"It hurt us on the weekend and had we kicked straighter earlier, it might’ve changed the dynamics of the game, but Geelong was very good."
On the final weeks of the home-and-away season:
"What we want to do is finish the year strong and continue to improve. We’re not going to go through the motions and we’re also not going to give games that are unwarranted.
"We need to get some cohesion into and get some guys playing football together and that’s been one of our challenges this year so we’ll balance all those decisions at the match committee. We’ll go out each weekend to win the game, that’s our priority."
On the current list:
"I have a lot of confidence in this group. I think where our list is at from an age profile, we’ve probably relied on some of the older guys in the past, but now it’s the next generation that are coming through that are carrying the load.
"We need to spread the load a little bit more, we need more players performing consistently at a higher level and that’s what we’re looking for: we’re looking for the guys who can step up, and do we have those guys on our list? I think so.
"I’m really excited about our future, I have great belief that we’re tracking in the right direction and I think those guys that you mentioned (Weitering, Walsh, McKay, Cripps) are going to lead the way."
