Sydney Swans defender Aliir Aliir addressed the media at the SCG on Monday morning.

The 23-year-old kicked the winning goal in Sydney’s thrilling six-point win over North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Here are some key quotes from the press conference.

Youngsters standing tall

“Losing McVeigh, Jack and Hannebery is a lot of experience gone. To have the young guys playing well is awesome and it’s a chance for us to move forward and we’ve embraced it. Ronke has been playing well over the last couple of weeks and for him to kick another bag of goals is huge. Our NEAFL side is playing terrific footy so if you do lose a player we know the next player to step up is going to do a job for the team.”

Shifting forward to boot the match-winner

“I didn’t want to push straight up. Laidler ran out and told us we’re down and you’ve got to go forward and do something. So I snuck forward and didn’t know what to do because I’m usually down the other end. I slowly pushed up and I got the lucky bounce and was able to put it through. Credit to Tommy Papley with the little tap to get it forward. I think it had a lot to do with the younger guys.”

Aliir’s developing game

“I’m feeling more confident the more I play. I’m just worrying about what I bring to the team and what my strengths are. Having that run and bounce and finding more confidence to keep doing it week in and week out. At the moment I’m feeling good about that. At the moment we have Jake Lloyd and Zak Jones down back doing the same thing. I think us as a back six are playing really well.”

Colin O’Riordan’s debut

“I lived with Colin in his first season and in his first couple of weeks I could not understand what he was saying. We were playing FIFA just nodding heads. We didn’t really understand each other and he has come a long way. He’s one of my close mates and to see him debut and to be able to play with him was outstanding. He was terrific – coming off, taking marks, running and bounce out of defence. He was huge.”