Post-Match Press Conference: John Longmire, Qualifying Final

on a qualifying final win at home it took a while to get that lead back I think it was the fifth minute of the first quarter was the last time you had the lead and you got in the last couple of minutes but what what do you make of that performance I just probably wanted to firstly acknowledge gws I mean um they were fantastic like they were Fierce and um in the tackle in the contest they were really um hard and clean and and um you they were tough you know it was a it was a really good game and they came out and were really played a really strong brand of foot he couldn't folder it at all so um and we were a bit below it and we need to get back to match and their pressure was just through the roof um they did everything I'd imagined that they wanted to in that regard they did so much right and you know it took us a bit of time we didn't have we weren in the contest that they were winning probably for the first two and a half to three quarters they were you in the 50/50s we we weren't winning as many as we would have liked but in the we weren't even breaking even as much as we should have on the in the air or on the ground um and then we we did have a lot of good players um there was probably lyy and Harry Cunningham a few a few you know H I thought was just um enormous and then um so we had to sort of limit the damage a little bit when they had a bit of the footy and were able to do that um and then we our last quarter was enormous and um you know I've talked about over the last three or four weeks finding different ways to win and we played some super foot in the first half of the year but in some ways I was happier with the last three weeks probably didn't sound like it when people I was asked the question probably people didn't expect me to say that cuz it's but I was just happy that we were able to grind Out and because this is what it's about it's about sometimes when you're not playing that well in the opposition are on song and you've got to hang in there and hang in there and um and grind it out and then were're able to do it and then go which was fantastic you mentioned Isaac he had a couple of really important moments at the end of that second quarter get that that oneand Mark you're first inside 50 that Mark to start the third quarter and then obviously that the goal to bring it level I mean it's one of the better finals performances we probably yeah they the ones that stand out and I saw so many more contests and around the ground and they the ones that you know that clearly people remember but jez he's hard you know he's just he's a genuine tough player and um you know he's he's grown enormously and he's um you know his ability to to lift and and to play well and keep rowing the boat and he doesn't have to be we don't have to be in great form for for him to do it he just keeps going and um it's a real credit to him John every teams sort of trying all year to put together four quarters of football um even in the times when you guys are winning games you sometimes weren't doing that um didn't do that tonight but you finished top of the ladder and you won game from a prelim final how do you sort of square that in your mind well it's pretty tough it's pretty tough competition to be noticed and that's that's why you I mean you're not going to go out and win four quarters these days very rarely are you going to to do that and I just think you know as people watching you need to sort of understand how hard it is you know it's hard to maintain that sort of level of footy you know you're going you know we're the whole competition is designed to not do that not win four quarters of footy so you're fighting against gravity all the time and so and that goes through the course of the Year regardless of how well you've played previously at some point it's you know it's it's a you got to find another way and you're not going to win every quarter of fo you're going to you're just got to hang in and you know as I said that's why I was pleased with some of the wins we had the back end you know you just needed to hang in you need to be hard and tough and gritty and and that's what I was pleased about John you mentioned obviously you need you need a good opponent and you need a good rival tonight it was just one one of the great Derbies what is it that just makes this Derby so special for you as a coach and you've been involved with a few with your colleague here as well yeah Le um two good teams you know I I think they they're they're a really good footy team and have been for a long time you know when Leon was there and now under Adam they're very very good footy team very good footy team they've always been well coached they've always played a strong brand they they're hard they're a very good footy team and so um and we saw that tonight and we got to be at our best to and we know that our players know that they've got to be both players from both clubs know that that they've got to be at their best to to compete and um and then you get games like you do and they're amazing games of footy and probably that you know I think the crowd realized that too I mean um they were probably one of our best players in the last quarter um the crowd is just amazing you know I've said it a few times this year but um you know to help help the boys over the line that last quarter you know the crowd were enormous and um the atmosphere here has been electric and I can't thank them enough either how good was it to have Tom B back with energy yeah well he's just a gun you know he's a good player has been for a very long time and uh thought he was really good tonight just get a couple of goals but he won some important one on was a one on three or one on two one on Three there in the last quarter the ball went up in the air and I thought you know possibly one of the shortest players on the ground was up against two or three in the air and he just did enough to neutralize it and that's what he is he's a massive competitor he just loves competing and um that's why we love him Justin M was also back yeah yeah look he was a bit quieter but he's um you know he just getting back into the back into the swing of things um now we played we played BJ as a sub tonight he didn't um he trained on Tuesday his um he trained uh he was really restricted in his training he had a sore groin so he wasn't able to get through training on he was able to get through but barely on Tuesday so we're tossing up whether to play him or not and um he lost his granddad on unfortunately on Thursday night he was really close with and um we wanted him to still play cuz he's been terrific the last few weeks um but he had a couple things going against him this week as far as how he was feeling and what had happened to him so I saw he and Henner his sister after the game you know on the ground there and um yeah that's a pretty special moment for the family John just throwing it Forward he've obviously got a well-deserved week break ahead of the prelim what does it mean it's prob pretty obvious but what does it mean to have that prelim back here in front of a pumping scg yeah it's um you know we can't wait for it we we want to enjoy what tonight's about um we're going to you know work on our training get our training really sharp and hard I think we need a you need a little hard block coming up this week and um and so we need a solid workout this week and that's what we'll do and um and plan for a home prelim final um we played here a couple of years ago against a uh against a pretty good team and the crowd were enormous that night as well and um I'm sure they'll be enormous in a couple of weeks time just a word on um Jake Lloyd obviously one of the unsung heroes of this team he loves a qualifying final goal he did the same against Melbourne in I think 22 to get you guys into the home prel I mean what what is about his role and his I guess selfless and tieless attitude but also getting a moment like that it's it's interesting you know the the younger boys and probably Midfield guys get a bit of the a bit of um acknowledgement outside of the footy Club um you know I thought Harry Cunningham tonight Daniels is a is a star and um and lordy um he's just been a good player for this footy team for a long time and um it means a lot to him and um you know he was he was really effective for us tonight he was important in a lot of big moments he was he was going well when we weren't going well as a team and he was consistent for the whole for the whole game Lis mikin came from the ground early in the game looked like pointing at his ribs or something from one of those contests but obviously played out and really grew into it as he all good there uh I think so yeah the doctor hav anything so I think so and John obviously you have a great Squad dep The Substitute who came on Bren Campbell really made a big impact if you could just reflect on his contribution tonight yeah well I just mentioned that um you know he would have been in the 22 only he had a tough week um and um and uh you know we we've been really pleased with how he's been going in the last four or five weeks he's been really good and and to come on in the last quarter eight or nine positions and win some big moments some big 50/50 moments be hard and clean after a pretty tough week injury-wise and then um what was happening uh just you know off field for him and is a great credit to him and really should be a proud moment for him and his family um the way he did that was um you know a special moment they lost obviously a loved one during the week and for them to be able to sit down as a family tonight and reflect on um how BJ's grandfather impacted him him and and the family is I think a pretty special moment for them just what was call Taylor Adams this week um they're all difficult yeah there's no easy ones um and we just had some really good players coming back in you know the fall that we had coming back in we it's you know it's pretty hard to leave those four out um and the other guys were doing pretty good jobs for us and and we you know Taylor hasn't been playing poorly it was just the case of you know those guys coming back and we needed to make room for them so um his attitude was superb you know probably had a chat with him earlier in the week and he's been terrific so his experience and and you know who knows what happens the next few weeks you got to be on on top of your game and you know all those guys will need to be ready to go cuz you know that's just the nature of the game what about Joel and Marty did you get to have a chance to um have a chat with him at half time or three quarter time because it wasn't you certainly wasn't his best game but then had that moment at the end which which mattered a fair bit yeah he wasn't a certain need a player either he rolled his on on Thursday after training so we probably thought he might have been missing um we had a you know those those are the stories you probably don't know you know he was you know just out of just doing some extra marking on Thursday and didn't rolled his ankle and didn't think he was going to play um M had gastro was crook as a dog tonight but those those are the things and I'm sure the opposition have the same stories and that's the when when the oppos you know when teams are in this time of the year every team in the final Series has those um and sometimes you got to find a way and um get through it and just get the job done on James last one guys James Jordan as well tonight some of those effort players really kind of summarized why you were were Keen to get him to the club the start of the year yeah he's been superb for us he's he's incredibly disciplined and but he's also a terrific Runner and we changed some roles during the course of the game and some worked some didn't and we changed some more in the last quarter and we put him in the Midfield um you know from from where his role was playing he played up up the ground first and he was able to run he's an elite Runner and I thought there were some important moments with you know he and Chad and H and those guys they all were really running hard in that last term and he was one of those guys that was running hard we love the way he goes about his job thank so much thanks