It was a good win over in Perth. The conditions were pretty tough, but we felt it was a pretty even contribution from all, which was pleasing. It’s always a hard one to win over at Patersons Stadium regardless of form, so we were certainly happy to come home with a win. We were also really happy with the way we went about it last Sunday. In the third quarter we were challenged in what was finals-like intensity, so it was good to see that our guys stood up and were able to push back on that. We did miss some of our opportunities and we thought we could have been in front by a little bit more, but we’ll take the win either way.

I think Luke Parker is always pretty happy when he wakes up and sees that it’s raining. He was one player who was happy about the conditions over in Perth, and his performance was evidence of that. He was terrific, but then there were several other players who contributed in what was a pretty even display. We had guys like Jeremy Laidler, who probably doesn’t get a lot of outside credit, but he played really well for us, Nick Smith again did a great job down back, and Ben McGlynn in his second game back from his injury was really good. Even Buddy, although he just kicked one goal, his pressure was just outstanding. Lewis Jetta was also terrific and probably had his best game for a long time. He’s one who had two long shots on goal, and had they gone through, then he probably would have been feeling even better about his game.

This week we take on Carlton at the SCG and when you look at their team on paper, they are full of talent. They have a lot of high draft picks and a lot of players who can turn a game by themselves. We know we will need to be at our best this weekend and we need our guys to keep the momentum going. We know we need to start the first quarter well and set the tone nice and early, because we can’t afford to let the Blues get off to a good start. They’ve got a number of attacking defenders and an A-grade midfield, with guys like Marc Murphy, Chris Judd and Bryce Gibbs running around, so the forwards are going to get some good supply. It will all come down to how much pressure we can put them under, try to restrict their goals, and try to do a bit of damage the other way. We’ve asked a lot of guys to come through the midfield this season that wouldn’t have had that time before. We’ve asked a lot of them, but we think they’ve all taken their opportunities, with guys like Harry Cunningham, Jake Lloyd, and even Brandon Jack, spending time through the midfield. We need those guys, as well as our seasoned campaigners, to play their role again this week against the Blues.

There’s been plenty of talk outside the club about our consecutive wins, but that’s not something we think about. You’d rather have 12 wins in a row than not, but in regards to records or comparing to other teams, we haven’t thought about it a lot. We’re not worried with that sort of stuff, but a win always make Monday a bit easier when you re-start for the next week. Hopefully we’ve got another good Monday coming up.