Brisbane Lions Head of Football David Noble caught up with Rowey and Bicks on FIVEaa ahead of our clash with Port Adelaide.
On the week gone:
“We were rapt that he (Schache) decided to see a future at our footy club, and then go on to be able to back it up with our first four-quarter effort last week was great for the footy club."
On the culture:
"The younger crew are starting to build a future here together and it's something significant for us.”
"I think what we’ve done is give the players some ownership and buy-in as to where they want to take the club – and they’re responding accordingly.
"We’re not feeling as if we have to necessarily convince them to stay - they’re wanting to stay because of the environment they’re in, through the guys like Chris (Fagan) and the senior leadership group, who have been outstanding for us.”
On Schache:
"I think it was quite an unusual set of circumstances - the amount of interest from down South was quite outstanding for a 19-year-old."
"It’s really difficult for those young guys to manage because they’re young men trying to build a career, then they to have to put up with a lot of that pressure and speculation.
"We were confident all the way through - we even talked to his Mum and Step-Dad about moving up to Brisbane. That was something we had clean discussions around – we were always confident he was going to stay."
On the season so far:
"I think we’re probably around where we thought we'd be. We knew there would be some sorting out from Fages' perspective, from a coaching side of things, as in the guys that were going to be able to execute the game plan how we wanted it to be."
"We knew we’d have some periods of guys coming in and out of team, we knew we had to allow young guys to build and develop. (Hugh) McCluggage and (Jarrod) Berry are playing at a level they should be.
We’ve had a surge in improvement in guys like Sam Mayes, Lewy Taylor, young Ben Keays and they’ve been led by our leadership group.
“The main aspect for us it to be able to constantly learn from each week, and I think the second half of the year we always felt we would have a much more consistent effort in our game across the board.
“The boys had done a power of work in the pre-season and we knew they were fit enough – it was just a matter of building the concentration levels to stay in the game for longer periods of time.”
On our win over Fremantle:
"We felt that our defence has built through Adelaide, Collingwood games and then executing it last week at the level that it needs to be, and hopefully going forward we can maintain that intensity of defence.”
"Our level of execution and decisiveness with the ball was quite pleasing, which then helps with your defence because then you have enough energy and time to position the defence in the right shape that you need it to be.
"It balances itself out so that if you’re good efficiently with the ball you’re able to set-up your defence, then if your defence is in shape. you can turn it over quicker and have those re-entries.
"It was a really good effort.”
On the young team:
"Fages has been pretty good – we don’t use it as an excuse because we understand why it occurs.”
“We’re really hard at driving them at a consistency level – it’s great to be able to play the teams at the top because that’s how you learn.
“We've learnt from our mistakes going through. We’ve had a growth mindset at the footy club to take opportunities when they’re presented so we’re in a good position for the second part of the year."
On Hipwood:
"The pleasing thing you don’t see until you get behind the scenes is that he’s one of our hardest trainers – it’s a credit to himself in how he’s developed this year."
“We have a talls program out here and Dan Merrett works with him on a daily basis as well as Ben Hudson who helps him with some of his other key tall parts of his game.
“He has great speed, is really well put together below his knees, really clean, can kick goals from a long range out, which is always great help for the forward line.
“The small guys on the deck like the fact that he jumps hard at the ball and competes really hard."
On taking on Port Adelaide:
“We think where we’ve been able to be reasonably efficient is our midfield, it’s been around the mark with some good variety, inside winners and speed so there’s plenty of balance in there.”
“I think the last time they jumped us and got a really good start on us, which put our guys on the back foot, so we need to be up for the contest from an early perspective.
“Regardless of the fact that it's Port, we felt that if we can get our ball inside 50, our efficiency up forward is good, so a focus for us is to get our defensive shape right and then get the ball inside 50 fairly quickly, where we think were efficient."
