Winning and losing coaches have their say after Saturday’s Round 3 games

TWO big clubs are under the pump — the Magpies have put their players on notice while the Tigers gagged their players. What did the winning and losing coaches have to say?

AFL: Round 3 St Kilda v Collingwood

COLLINGWOOD and Richmond are under the pump after big losses to St Kilda and Adelaide respectively.

Magpies coach Nathan Buckley questioned his players’ effort against the Saints while the Tigers went into siege-mode and gagged their players from speaking to the media.

Hear what the winning and losing coaches had to say after Saturday’s games.

ST KILDA 119 def COLLINGWOOD 90

FRUSTRATED Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has put his underperforming forwards on notice, saying they will pay a price unless they can bring greater effort and defensive pressure.

Speaking after the Magpies’ shock 29-point loss to an ­injury-hit St Kilda, Buckley said the club did not have “its head in the sand” about where it sits after a poor start to a ­season that promised so much.

“We were off,” Buckley said after the game.

“We only had two players that we thought brought the necessary effort and attitude.

“They will all feel like they have worked hard because they were chasing for a lot of the time.

“We gave up 320 uncontested possessions. We didn’t play the way we wanted to play.

“We were too easy to play against for any opposition. We couldn’t keep the ball in our front half and couldn’t defend in our back half. We just weren’t prepared to roll our sleeves up and do the work.”

The Magpies have won only three of the 12 quarters, and the loss was compounded by the fact that the gritty Saints only had one player on the ­interchange bench for most of the second half.

“You would think that in any measure, if you have more players to use ... that should be an advantage in some way, shape or form,” he lamented.

The Collingwood rooms was deathly quiet after the match with president Eddie McGuire and chief executive Gary Pert among those looking on with disbelief at how poorly the Pies had played.

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said the Magpies were easy to play against. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Buckley said the inability to fight to keep the ball in the ­forward half of the ground was the most alarming issue at the moment.

“Scores from the back half were relatively even. Scores from centre bounces were relatively even. The thing we weren’t able to do was turn the ball over in the front half and score,” he said.

“St Kilda did. It was eight goals to two from front-half turnovers, and that’s the margin in the game.

“It takes energy, it takes attitude and effort, especially in our front half. When we got the ball there, we couldn’t keep it in there.”

Asked if some players were not learning from mistakes, and faced pressure to keep their spot, he said: “It is really clear — absolutely clear.”

Jarryd Blair failed to lay a tackle for the game, as did last week’s six-goal matchwinner Alex Fasolo, while Travis Cloke had one tackle to go with his two goals, with Triple M’s Wayne Carey saying a stint in the VFL side was not far away.

Buckley charged out to the forwards at quarter-time to ­immediately express his anger at their lack of pressure they had applied in the opening term, but it remained a problem all day.

He defended the decision to use captain Scott Pendlebury off the half-back flank again, and it was only when the Saints were on a third-term run of six goals that he was sent into the middle.

“We will use him where we can best use him,” Buckley said of his skipper.

The Magpies will get back Steele Sidebottom from suspension and Travis Varcoe from injury for next Sunday’s clash with Melbourne at the MCG, but the coach said those players alone won’t cover over the issues the club faces at the moment.

Buckley admitted the defensive structures and methods were “falling over”, but he remained confident the club could sort through the issues, despite evidence yesterday that would have alarmed him.

“Our players aren’t able to execute it often enough at the moment,” he said of the structures. “That is something we will need to work on as a coaching group and a playing group.”

“There is still enough evidence to suggest we can play like we want to play, but ... if there is evidence to the contrary, then we will need to make shifts.”

Defender Marley Williams is in doubt for the Demons’ clash next week after straining his foot.

— Glenn McFarlane

ST Kilda coach Alan Richardson hailed his injury-ravaged side’s gutsy win over Collingwood as the best in his time in charge at the club.

The Saints ran all over the top of the Magpies in the second half, despite having just one fit player on the bench for most of the second half.

When asked if it was the best win of his coaching career to date, the third-year coach replied: “I think it is.

“We had a probably unrealistic big win against the Bombers last year when clearly the weight of the world had fallen on their footy club.

“I reckon given we ended up a few men down and the Maggies, in my short time here, have given us a bit of a touch up a few times.

“I would hope it is one of those games where this is our new level and a benchmark.”

St Kilda lost both skipper Nick Riewoldt and young gun Paddy McCartin just before halftime to concussion.

Dylan Robertson also hurt his knee mid-way through the third term, and the early prognosis is he’ll miss a couple of weeks.

Richardson said Riewoldt in fact passed his concussion test, but did not return on medical advice.

“Our doctors just made the call they still quite weren’t happy he was right to go,” he said.

“You can imagine from a coach’s perspective, someone passes the test and you’re pretty anxious to get them back out there.

“But our doctors will always have the final say and player’s welfare is paramount.”

When asked if Riewoldt wanted to come back on, Richardson said: “That would be an understatement … he was keen to play and our doctors had to be pretty strong.”

Richardson hailed the resilience of his group to overcome the injury crisis and grind out a strong victory.

“I was really proud of the group and I though they showed enormous character,” he said.

“Riewoldt was in fair form and I thought with Paddy McCartin, that was probably as good as he has played for our club in his short time.

“That was a challenge and Robertson couldn’t come back on either, so for the guys to continue to play really physical and aggressive and work through what was clearly going to be physically quite challenging was really positive.”

The St Kilda coach said the group was benefiting from the natural progression of its inexperienced players.

“Our young guys are more experienced now … Seb Ross is going into his fifth year, and Luke Dunstan — who I thought almost turned the game our way — has had three pre-seasons,” Richardson.”

“It is same with Jack Billings as well, so the group is stronger.”

- Nick Smart

ADELAIDE 128 def RICHMOND 92

RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick has made the surprising admission the Tigers must go back to go forwards as their season threatens to spiral out of control.

Richmond was brutally swept aside by Adelaide at Etihad Stadium, slipping to 1-2 ahead of a daunting assignment against West Coast in Perth on Friday night.

The club then gagged its players — banning them from speaking to the media after the game.

Hardwick, in his seventh year as Tigers coach and desperate to guide the club to its first finals win since 2001, said Richmond needed to take “a half step back”.

“Look, this side isn’t the same as last year. We are trialling some blokes in some different positions,” Hardwick said.

“We might have to take a little half step back to go two steps forward, but I’m very confident we will take the two steps forward.

“(Kamdyn) McIntosh down back, I think we’ve found a player. We probably hoped to get more out of a couple of other guys tonight.

“The general core is there, we’re just adding some general pieces around that puzzle at the moment, which we feel will take us forward. It hasn’t worked out at the moment, but we’re very confident we’ll get the desired result.

“We’ve been found short the last three years so we’ve got to find the next tier that we think will take us to the next level. It might be ... a speed bump here and there, but the aim is to go forward.”

Richmond was scorched by the Crows’ transition power. Hardwick watched as his side gathered 41 more possessions, 12 more contested marks, won contested ball and tackles, but was made to pay severely for its glut of turnovers.

Hardwick said Richmond’s skills were not up to standard and “hurting us at the moment”.

A loss to the Eagles would sink the Tigers to 1-3 and force them to play catch-up for the third consecutive year in a bid to play finals.

Hardwick acknowledged basic mistakes by hand and foot had been a recurring early-season trend.

“Stock standard for us isn’t it? Starting like this? It’s disappointing,” he said.

“Our offence is killing our defence at the moment. We’ve gone through it at various stages and we’ll undoubtedly go through it again at some stage, but for us we think that while it’s frustrating it’s an easy fix.

“The skill execution ... we just need to work on and get better. We’ve got players who are good users at the ball not using it like they should.

“We’ve been here before”.

Hardwick described next week’s trip to Perth to play West Coast off a six-day break as the best situation he could hope for.

“Funnily enough, it’s a bit of a Godsend really. Our players get to go away as a unit, I couldn’t ask for anything better to be perfectly honest,” he said.

“We travel well as a side, we play well at Subiaco and we give ourselves every chance versus the Eagles over there.”

Ivan Maric (back) will play 80 minutes in the VFL on Sunday. Hardwick said Brett Deledio (quad) was still only a “slim” chance to return after kicking for the first time on Saturday.

— Sam Edmund

ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke has credited improved ball movement for the club’s ability to continue to find goals out the back of opposition defences after the trend continued in a blitzkrieg 36-point win against Richmond at the Docklands.

The Crows are becoming kings at hurting opposition teams on the turnover.

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick counted as many as eight “12-point plays” — that is when he had expected a Richmond goal only for an error to turn it into a Crows goal at the other end.

Pyke said the club’s ability to find a player who can run into an open goal was a consequence of moving the ball cleanly and quickly rather than a goal in itself.

But it leads to easy goals that are worth gold in a competition where the trend is for most team to press up high in attack.

“We’ve spent a fair bit of time in how we move the ball,” Pyke said.

“And some of what you saw today was the result of some of that work we’ve been doing.

“You’re always a chance to get a goal out the back depending on how hard the opposition is pressing up the ground.

“Each side employs a slightly different defence mechanism and today we had to find another way at times as well.”

The Crows had to weather a spirited opening to the match from a club that has been heavily scrutinised after throwing away what seemed a certain win against Collingwood the previous week.

Pyke could not speak more highly of how well his players handled the intensity.

“It was a pleasing effort from our guys,” Pyke said.

“Based on A, we know they’re a quality side and B, they were coming off a lost last weekend.

“I thought after five or six minutes that she was on in there but our guys were prepared for that.

“It probably took us a little bit of time to settle, but after that initial onslaught we really settled down and got to work and I’m really proud of our guys how they from that point on kept up with the contested stuff and the pressure around the ball.”

- Jesper Fjeldstad

SYDNEY SWANS 93 def GWS GIANTS 68

The Lance and Luke show helped set up Sydney’s 25-point win Greater Western Sydney that continued the Swans’ dominance over their local rivals.

Lance Franklin kicked four goals for the third straight week and midfield dynamo Luke Parker continued his hot start to the season by earning the Brett Kirk Medal for best on ground in 14.9 (93) to 10.8 (68) victory at the SCG.

“His work rate has been really solid,” Swans coach John Longmire said of Franklin.

“He’s another one that has had a good pre-season so he’s banking on that, getting the benefit of that.

“But probably the good thing is that it’s been a young forward group we’ve had up there and at times we didn’t look as good as what we could have, but he was able to straighten things up.” Parker notched 30 possessions, seven marks, six tackles and a goal in another typical all-action performance.

“There was a couple of big 50-50 balls in the centre of the ground at times that he went for that helped set the tone for our midfield group and the team,” Longmire said.

“What’s been consistent over the first three weeks has been our good players, our leaders, our senior blokes have been playing pretty well.”

- AAP

GWS Giants coach Leon Cameron wants his team to be bolder for longer after suffering another derby defeat.

The Giants were slow out of the blocks and in their ball movement, as they trailed Sydney 21-2 early in the second quarter at the SCG.

They hit the front briefly in the second quarter, but didn’t build on that surge, losing by 25 points.

“If you’re not bold, you don’t get anywhere,” Cameron said.

“If you play conservative then you get eaten up. At times we were a bit too conservative in the first half.”

Cameron felt GWS was getting closer to Sydney despite suffering an eighth loss in nine derbies.

“I think we’re making some ground which is positive, but you’ve got top make ground for 120 minutes and our boys clearly know there were patches all throughout the game we didn’t deliver on that,” Cameron said.

“There’s positives from our team, but there’s also disappointment because we’re trying to knock off a top four side.

“If you want to get somewhere in this competition you’ve got to take it up to these really, really good sides every week and we only took it up to the Swans parts of the game and that’s disappointing.”

Cameron was pleased with his backline but disappointed with his forwards.

“Their defenders had the better of most of our forwards on the night,” Cameron said.

“We’ve got some young forwards down there trying to carve their way out in this AFL game and when you come up against a really good senior experienced backline like Sydney, you’re going to earn every kick and our boys certainly found that out tonight.

“Our biggest positive was probably our back seven, I thought they really stood tall.”

- AAP

GOLD COAST 95 def CARLTON 41

GOLD Coast coach Rodney Eade faces a selection dilemma in defence for next week’s Q Clash after the Suns’ injury curse struck again in their 54-point win against Carlton.

The Suns maintained their unbeaten start to the season with the 13.17 (95) to 5.11 (41) victory on Saturday night at Metricon Stadium but lost defenders Trent McKenzie and Rory Thompson to injury during the contest.

McKenzie broke his nose in a marking contest in the opening quarter while Thompson, whose 2015 campaign was wrecked by injuries, came off in the third term after hurting his right ankle.

Despite the injuries, the Suns completed a comfortable, if unconvincing, victory over the winless Blues.

Eade confirmed McKenzie would miss next Saturday’s match against Brisbane but said Thompson’s situation would be monitored.

“That’s an area I don’t think we’ve had a lot of depth,” Eade said.

“With Trent it is a compound fracture inside so that can be serious, so we will have to wait and see when he meets the surgeon but he will certainly miss a few weeks.

“Rory got an ankle sprain which he thought was high in his leg, but he is not feeling it at the moment.

“I think Clay Cameron played his best game for the club today ... so there’s one player we can play and young Matt Willis is playing really well in the seconds.

“We’ve got some players there.”

Despite the Blues suffering their third loss in a row, coach Brendon Bolton emphasised the positive in another confident display by 2015 No.1 draft pick Weitering.

“He just continues to get better, doesn’t he?,” Bolton said.

“Some really good intercept marks, ball use. We’ve got a really good player.”

- AAP

WEST COAST DEF FREMANTLE

A SATISFIED West Coast coach Adam Simpson labelled Saturday night’s 33-point victory over Fremantle a significant response to last Sunday’s drubbing at the hands of nemesis Hawthorn, as the Eagles won consecutive derbies for the first time in four years.

Despite controlling most of the game and dominating the inside 50 count 63-37, the Eagles were given a scare when the Matthew Pavlich-inspired Dockers dragged themselves to within a goal midway through the last quarter.

“We were really disappointed last week after the Hawthorn game and there was a bit of soul searching going on for everyone,’’ Simpson said.

“So to respond like that - and the fact it was a bit of a grind - was really pleasing and really good for our leaders to all contribute well and to bounce back.

“It’s important for us, because we’re still going through some maturity things about where we’re at and what kind of team we can be.

“There’s always question marks early in the year about where you’re at and we’re still not where we want to be. But to play like that tonight, just the way we did it, that was really pleasing. But I’m not getting carried away.’’

Simpson said he respected Fremantle for the way it fought on without Aaron Sandilands.

“Losing their key ruckman, and going in with probably only him as their main ruckman, was backs-against-the-wall stuff for them,’’ he said.

“I won’t say that Sandilands was the reason why we won, him getting injured, but it definitely made them change their strategy.’’

West Coast has the opportunity to improve its record to 3-1 in a clash with Richmond at Subiaco Oval on Friday night, but the Eagles will have to overcome a double six-day break and a bruising Western Derby.

The club did not have any major injury concerns last night, however Simpson conceded some sore players could find themselves in a race against time to take on the Tigers.

“We’ve got some sore boys and we’ve got a double-up six-day break. So we’ll have to see how they pull up,’’ he said.

Simpson played down a final term boundary umpiring controversy, with Fremantle’s Chris Mayne appearing to carry the ball well over the line before setting up a goal for Pavlich which enabled the Dockers to close to within five points.

The West Coast home crowd was incensed when the incident was replayed on the big screens following Pavlich’s goal.

“That’s footy. I was more concerned about our 15 missed shots that we had at stages,’’ Simpson said.

“They’re human. They make mistakes.’’

- Braden Quartermaine

FREMANTLE coach Ross Lyon confirmed Sandilands had punctured his lung and suffered rib damage.

He also said midfielder David Mundy, who was ruled out before the match with a calf injury, would miss several weeks.

“It’s really courageous how he got up,” Lyon said of Sandilands. “It was a big contest. It was a result of a turnover. He got put out of position. It’s really disappointing. It’s not ideal, but you win them and you wear them.” West Coast coach Adam Simpson was happy with the win, but said his team’s inaccuracy could have proved costly.

“We definitely could have converted a bit better,” Simpson said. “We like to give our forwards plenty of supply. Normally if you get over 60 inside 50s, we normally go pretty well.

“The fact we didn’t finish off is disappointing, but I think, in general, we grinded it out pretty well.”

— AAP

Originally published as Winning and losing coaches have their say after Saturday’s Round 3 games