JASON KELLY
To defeat a quality side like Narre you need 100 per cent commitment from the whole group, you got that today didn’t you?
Yeah, there were no passengers today and that’s what you need against Narre, they’re a very good side and you need to shut down their key players.
We had a plan for that and we executed that plan perfectly today.
You’ve showed signs of some good footy against Beaconsfield and Cranbourne, but to get that first win on the board is what it’s all about.
That must be a relief for the club right now?
It certainly is, it’s a big relief, and not just to win, but to do it against a quality side like Narre always makes it that little bit sweeter.
There’s been a bit of a rivalry between the two sides over the last few years so it’s good to get the win.
We’ve been building towards this so it’s great to finally get some reward for our efforts.
It’s been four long years since you’ve defeated them, and you’ve done it in style, winning all four games today.
It’s been a great day for the club, hasn’t it?
It just shows that we’re on the rise as a club.
We’ve really been pushing towards this over the last few years and we’ve added some talent to the team.
We bat a lot deeper and stronger now down through the grades.
About this time last year you defeated Cranbourne and we all thought Berwick was going to be a super team, but it didn’t work out that way.
As much as it was a good win, there’s still a lot of bloody hard work to be done this season isn’t there?
Exactly right and losing those two games at the start of the year hasn’t helped us.
We’re a bit behind the eight-ball still, and we’ve got a lot of hard work to do, but we’re working hard to make sure we get it right.
Next week against ROC, that’s another big game for us.
You faded against Cranbourne in round two and Narre came at you again today in the second quarter.
Is responding to that the most important thing to take out of today?
Look, our main goal is to pressure the ball carrier and we’ve been doing that really well, but we’ve dropped off at times.
We did it again in the second quarter today but we re-grouped at half-time and the boys did the right things and run the game out really well after half time.
The recruits were magnificent today. Michael Riseley at full back was superb on Kerem Baskaya?
He’s (Baskaya) probably the best full-forward in the competition, so for Riseley to win that battle today was an outstanding result for us.
And Ash Smith off half back?
He just showed his quality today, but he’s been building towards this and really showed what he’s capable of.
People think it’s easy for him to come back from the AFL, but it takes time to adjust and he’ll just get better as the season goes on.
Has the club had to adjust as well?
Definitely, we’ve both had to adjust a bit.
We’ve been trying to take some of his experience from the AFL and he’s had to adjust to how we do things.
It’s been a bit of give and take but it’s starting to work out well now.
Is belief the biggest benefit to come out of today when you look to the season ahead?
Yeah, probably belief, and for the players to believe that our structures we’ve been working towards are going to work under pressure.
Everyone played their roles really well today.
CHRIS TONER
Chris, the way the boys fell away in the final quarter, that’s something you wouldn’t be happy with and need to address?
Look, it’s disappointing but there’s no use me yelling and screaming, if I keep doing that it will fall on deaf ears.
We just need to address a few things, regroup, get back together and get back to playing the footy that we know we can play.
There are no panic stations, nothing like that, but, we just need to address a few things this week.
What do you feel like was missing today?
I thought we played well against Cranbourne and the game against Pakenham was of a high standard so it was hard to see this coming.
I just feel as though we feel like we have the right to be in front all the time and it’s not happening, and we need to play the percentages better.
We don’t want to win ugly, we’d rather pull off the millionaire kick and do all of those sorts of things instead of just getting the job done.
Sometimes we need to take the obvious choice instead of trying to pull off the miracle kick.
That’s falling down and I feel like we’re not working hard enough when we haven’t got the ball.
Just go back to the Pakenham game for a minute, you were in front with only a couple of minutes left, is that what you mean when you said you need to play the percentages better.
There were 39 goals kicked in that match, I Imagine it wouldn’t be easy to just identify a time to shut it down?
I don’t think it’s a matter of rolling a bloke back and having an extra in defence, but we brought the ball back inside at critical times and turned it over.
There was one, in particular, where if that ball had of gone to the wing, we knock it out, take time off the clock and we win the game.
It’s something we have spoken about at length over the last two weeks but we weren’t even in a position to worry about that today.
How much credit to Berwick and how much of a poor Narre Warren performance contributed to that result today?
We have to acknowledge that the other side was better on the day but I emphasise on the day.
We see them again later in the year, we look forward to that, but they were better than us on the day.
Winning has become a habit for you blokes, this is a big challenge for you and the boys now?
We’ll be fine, we just need to get a bit of dirt on the fingernails and to grind out some wins and enjoying winning those tough games again. We’ll be fine.
Chris, you’ve got really key injuries at the moment. Do you think some blokes are questioning themselves a bit without those players in the side?
Let’s put things in perspective. We’ve had some very good and very successful teams over the years, but we can’t dwell on that now.
This group has to work hard and develop its own character to create its own success.
We’ll get that, but this is a relatively new group and it might take some time, it might be a slow burn.
