On how the week has transpired:

"Some good conversations. In the wash-up of things, I mentioned half glass full versus half glass empty. We’ve taken a bit of an approach to be glass half full, and there have been some positives about what we’ve wanted to do and some of the transfer we’ve got from pre-season into our games. 

"We’re seeing the majority of the time where that’s happening. But we’re in the finer margins and see where the next level of growth needs to come from. Sometimes that’s through conversations, but ultimately it comes through actions. That’s what we’ve got to be able to do next."

On addressing second halves:

"We’ve been talking about it for a couple of weeks to be honest, it’s not something that we’ve left alone.  It’s as obvious to you as it is to us. We’ve delved into whether that’s a structural thing to reinforce, some method with what mode we go into and style of play, and of course our mindset - what do we need to be on the same page with when we go into that? 

"There have been little bits of each, but I also want to be clear that there’s no silver bullet. It’s through repetition and consistency that we get change, and when we get the action we need, I’m really confident that we can change that pretty quickly. I’m not coming into this game thinking this can’t happen before this weekend."

On how the Blues have approached the week"

"It’s a five-day break, effectively four days when you take away a recovery day. We have to be quite precise about what we want to cover off, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been conversations. We move into North Melbourne and then we get going again for the game. 

"There are two aspects for us: there’s getting a result for our football club, and there’s also representing our football club in a manner that they can be proud of as well. We walked out last week disappointed that we didn’t do that, but we rock up this week with a very important occasion and we get to bring joy to families. 

"That’s a really important reminder for us of where football sits, and also the privileged position we have to make others smile."

On if the playing group is hurting:

"I would hope so, I think we’re all hurting. We can all be aligned with that, whether that’s supporters, coaches and players. I don’t think you can expect anything less than that. But we have to turn that hurt into action. It’s fine to have the feeling, but we’ve got to go out there and what’s being asked of us is 120 minutes of football of the way we want to play. 

"There are signs of encouragement, but there have also been signs of disappointment. We’ve got to bridge that gap and we’ve got to do it pretty quickly."

On what conversations were like during the week:

"It was the ownership. I’m a big believer that as leaders, we model how we want to be. With that, I’ve never been part of this group that hasn’t accepted responsibility for what we need to be able to do next. That’s what I love about this group, with ‘Crippa’, ‘Weiters’ and ‘Walshy’ at the front. 

"They’re hopefully going to lead that action this week and we get the change that we need. I’d rather go out and do it. It’s nice to have this conversation with all you nice folk, but at the same time, I’d love us to be able to go out there and get it done. I don’t think we should get lost on that."

On the need for consistency going forward:

"This is not just a tomorrow thing, this is a moving forward thing. There’s got to be repetition and consistency behind that, we need to be a consistent football club. 

"We’ll turn up this week and play a brand of football and hopefully make the changes that we need to make, but it’s about the ongoing consistency of the way we play and how we show up every single day and what our training environment looks like and how we’re getting better every single day. How do we act in the moments when the pressure is on? Where do we show our energy? Is it inwards or outwards? 

"The four points is what we’re shooting for, but we’re looking for winning behaviours that are going to hold us strong for a long period of time."

On looking for transfer in the Blues' game style:

"I can’t debate the outcome. We’re process-driven animals and we tend to look through our style of play, but we’re not the complete version. Maybe the finish is the last part to come, but we’ve certainly seen enough to suggest that there’s evidence of change. We’ve got periods of the game that have challenged us. 

"On the weekend, it was 13 minutes at the end of the game that cost us. Otherwise, the game was in a fight - we had to earn the right, and we didn’t earn it enough. Until that full transfer comes, I can’t answer it emphatically, but what’s been reinforced and what we’ve seen already is a notable change in the way we play."

On how he's currently feeling:

"Where I’m at with it all is I don’t give three-day updates, about what my position is and what my job is. What you focus on is what the next game looks like for us, and where it sits in the bigger picture. I have gratitude and perspective, and that’s what we expect from our playing group this week. I’m no different. 

"Everything about our Club is going to be Club-first. When we play, we want to do the Club proud. We didn’t do that - our supporters are feeling that and we’re feeling that. We’re completely aligned on that, but we also get the responsibility to do something about it. The eyes have been completely fixed on that and making sure that we get the shift that we need.

"Our next game is our most important one. Talking about where it ends up with a game two days in front of us, and a very important one, that’s where all our focus lies."

On potential changes for this week:

"There might be a couple of changes. We’ve got to get through training, and given we haven’t trained yet, it’s a pretty important training session for us. We know about [Harry Dean] and we’ll have to make a change there, but we’ve got an important training session to get through before we confirm any changes.

"Adam Cerra’s going to come in, but Harry Dean is a defender so we won’t play ‘Cez’ down there I don’t think… Derksen has done well, Newman has had some great form, Boyd has been in great form, ‘Newy’ only played his first full game in a few weeks so he comes under consideration."