On the performance as a whole:
"Each week, we’ve felt the power of our contest again. Some of the pressure we’ve been able to get on the ball a couple of weeks back, you start to get a really clear picture of what that looks like. At the end of the game last week, you start to see the scoreboard and the power of our play, finishing our plays and the style of football we want to play. You haven’t seen it for the entirety of the game, but you’ve seen it for patches.
"It gives you confidence that you’re moving in the right direction. Today for large parts of the game, we were able to get what we wante . It’s been a little while since we’ve dominated supply, so to get the territory in the game that we needed and more importantly get the scoreboard ticking over was a huge plus out of the game.
"It feels like every time we’ve stepped into a game, to see components and to see individuals who are having highlights in our game - whether that’s our younger players or leaders that are leading - we sat in here and said we’re going to play out the season strong. That’s exactly what we’re doing. I can’t fault the boys and how they’ve been able to approach it."
On Sam Walsh's return:
"It shows you good players help. When you don’t have them for a while and then you see the difference they make in your system. 'Walshy' we’ve missed, Harry we’ve missed. [Walsh] comes out and does what he does, he’s our transition mid that gets from inside to out better than anyone.
"We’ve got a key forward out there that we haven’t seen for a lot of the year that kicked seven goals as a focal point. Good players help, and to have those players in great form was really important to us."
On the team's offence clicking:
"It’s more playing what we see in front of us. Quickness hasn’t been our issue over the course of the year, our finish has - how we finish our plays. We’ve gone to work on that pretty hard and not all of it has clicked in place the way we’ve wanted it to, or as quick as we wanted it to.
"But to see the transfer now, we’re starting to see some better entries and quality entries, finishing our plays. In any game style you play, that’s important. We were able to get the supply we wanted, it puts an opposition under tension and it maybe forces them to do things they don’t want to do and we can capitalise on those errors."
On Cooper Lord's role, and his game ending due to a concussion:
"He’s a great player Butters, a very important player to them as their fire starter - what more can you say about him? The opportunity for Cooper to come in as a very diligent young man… he’s a pro, he’s going to get everything out of himself in his career with whatever that looks like. You go and learn on good players, he’ll learn a lot over this last three weeks.
"He’s banked 21 games across the season, he’ll unfortunately miss the next one but it’s such a valuable body of work to have to be able to give you the confidence that you belong. He’s proven that, he belongs in AFL footy. Hopefully he can impact for us in years to come."
On what Harry McKay provides:
"This year has been different to others. I think we can forget about Harry that he was leading our best and fairest up until Round 9 or 10 last year. He’s been in solid patches of form, he’s a difference maker for us - your best players have got to be. We’re seeing a really good version of Harry at the moment.
"If I look across the whole team, the selfless nature in which we’re playing - they’re feeling that again. Whether that’s the shot selection and putting players in better positions, whether that’s rewarding the runners that are there, whether that’s support runs and finishing plays like Matty Carroll did deep into the fourth quarter, whether that’s Mots pressuring right to the end in the last quarter - we’re seeing the selfless nature in the way we’re playing.
"You’re always trying to do that, but there’s also the momentum and the feel and the selfless nature that becomes contagious. They’re feeding off each other at the moment, which is pleasing to see."
On the team's midfield showing:
"The midfield was particularly impressive. They’ve got a good midfield: I know Horne-Francis is missing out of there, but they’ve got a powerful midfield which you have to manage and they’re always a threat. To have that dominance, territory and supply from that one source was obviously important in the game.
"When mids start joining in [on the scoreboard], that’s always a good thing. 'Crippa' kicked a couple, 'Walshy' didn’t convert his opportunities but he was getting shots on goal as well. It’s not one particular thing, there’s a lot of things that have to happen for that to come tighter.
"Small forwards kicking goals, midfielders kicking goals, sharing the load amongst our talls - it’s just a better version. Ideally, that’s what you’re always trying to achieve. Over the last month, we’re starting to grow confidence in each other and individuals are playing better and making larger contributions."
On what to expect from the final game of the season on Thursday night:
"We’ve got to finish the season.
"Our supporters have gone the journey with us and we’re extremely grateful for that. We’ve had some lean times at various stages throughout the season, we’re really grateful they’ve stuck with us and seen the emergence of some younger players that have come in. They’ve energised behind us, you hear the stadium tonight and you think it’s Round 2. With every goal, they’re getting behind us which we’re really pleased about.
"Next week, we want to finish the season strong: there’s no guarantees, but there’s always something we can continue to improve and every game we play is valuable. You don’t wish games away, you don’t - because when you end, you wish you were there. We’re going to continue to do that, and I think the leaders are leading that very well right now."
