NARRM look for other midfield options as the Demons will be without Clayton Oliver in their clash with Walyalup on Saturday afternoon.
Simon Goodwin spoke to the Media ahead of this weekends match up to address Clayton Oliver's injury, facing an ex-Dee for the first time and Walyalup's hot form.
Clayton Oliver Injury
“He’s got a hamstring strain, it’s a minor strain,” Goodwin said.
“We’re just going to build him through that process, how long that takes, we’re unsure.
“But he’s such a diligent player around his rehab and his ability to get his body right. We give him every chance in the next few weeks to work through those processes.
“We’re going to be very cautious with him as well. He’s an important player for us so we’re going to make sure he’s right first and foremost.
“We have to treat it with respect so we have to go through the process. Clayton certainly embraced that.
“We’re hopeful that it’s not too long, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
New Midfield Look
“It gives great opportunity to not only players that currently sit within our midfield but also players that potentially come in to the team,” Goodwin said.
“We’ve got some guys at VFL level in Taj Woewodin, Bailey Laurie and James Harmes that are playing some great footy so we’ll look at that.
“But then the increased responsibility for a Tom Sparrow, Christian Petracca, Viney, the like.
“We’ve got some options there, but it’s just going to be a team based thing, you can’t replace Clayton Oliver with one player.
“It’s going to have to be a team responsibility and make sure we get our system right.”
Lachie Hunter Tribunal Hearing
“Obviously disappointed. We wouldn’t have appealed it if we didn’t think we were a chance to get Lachie off,” Goodwin said.
“In our thoughts, we thought he was contesting the ball but clearly the AFL saw differently.
“As we go through this process, clearly we can see that we’re building more clarity in what’s right and what’s wrong.
“We get the information we deal with it and keep moving forward.”
Yartapuulti Review
“There's no doubt that last week we lost the territory game fairly significantly, especially in the three quarters we got beaten in.” Goodwin said
“That’s certainly a part of the game we need to be better at.
“Port were very good around clearance and stoppage and their ability to keep the ball in their front half of the ground.
“There was a lot of learnings for us and how we get the ball out, how we get more territory ourselves, our ability to lock the ball in down our end of the ground better.
“There’s a whole range of different learnings you can take from a game like that. Theres no question that the conditions aided that type of game, but we certainly learned a lot last week.”
Max Gawn Treatment
“Max has dealt with treatment over the last few years,” Goodwin said.
“From a culture perspective, we’re incredibly proud of our culture.
“We stick up for Max a lot, and Max deals with a lot in the last three or four years.
“It was nothing new for us in terms of what he dealt with.
“We ended up getting three free kicks and a shot at goal so we’re really comfortable with where we sit in that space and our ability to look after our skipper and our culture in general.”
Facing Luke Jackson
“Jacko, we know he’s going pretty well.” Goodwin said.
“We’re rapt to see how well he’s going at Fremantle,
“He gave our footy club a lot, he’s certainly a Premiership player and someone that we respect highly.
“He’s now the enemy so he’ll be treated like every other opponent out there.
“We’ll play tough hard footy against him and we look forward to the contest.”
Walyalup in Form
“They’re in fantastic form, their last three or four weeks have been brilliant.” Goodwin said.
“They’ve been able to turn their season around with the way they’ve gone about their footy.
“They’re certainly defending to a really high level and they’re starting to really hit the scoreboard.
“We certainly know what we’re up against, they’re a high quality team.
“We’re under no illusion about the challenge that’s in front of us.”
