Mark McVeigh appeared in a press conference on Friday, February 6, following intra club match simulation. With just one month to go until Opening Night the assistant coach discussed the return of Callum Mills, the chemistry of the forward line and the development of Ned Bowman. 

On Friday's session

"We're coming to the end of a really huge workload, so we're really impressed with the way the boys are going. It was a really hard hit out, obviously we started around 10 o'clock this morning, and as the day goes on it's getting a little bit hotter."

On Mills' form

"Yeah, he stood out, didn't he? I think having a really strong pre-season, obviously he's had his up and down the last few years, but we thought he looked really comfortable, he feels really good out there... The red team obviously slightly better in terms of personnel and experience, but we thought the green team, they were outstanding as well, so a lot of really good young players showing their wares out their."

On other standout from match simulation

"Watching Charlie Curnow, obviously a big recruit come in and do a really good job, but Joel Hemling was outstanding. Obviously he's been here a few years now, more experienced player, but you can just see that even Charlie himself said he's really hard to deal with, so we take great positive out of that, we think he's going really well. Our midfield's starting to hum. Isaac looked really strong through there, Gus Sheldrick, one of our younger players that we think we can get a lot out of this year, was really good, and of course JJ (James Jordon), he was outstanding as well."

On the midfield connection

"I think it's great... Errol as well that can go through there, we've got Chad obviously, Rowbottom, and these type of players that just have the ability to win the ball inside, and then if we can utilise our runners, whether it's Riley Bice behind the ball, whether we can have multiple players that can help us go inside 50 and give us really dangerous looks, I think Charlie's really enjoying that... Lizard was outstanding with that as well - we've been doing a lot of work with him -so I think our forwards are getting good looks. Jeremy Laidler our new forwards coach, has coached really well around our patterns going inside 50 and what our forwards need to do, and we think that connection's starting to build."

On the forwards chemistry

"Naturally (Charlie) has to build that chemistry with those other forwards, whether it's Joel Amartey who was in the other team today,  McLean, Logan was really good today as well, he had some really good moments. So they're players that he's not familiar with in terms of playing with, but we've had many opportunities to break down drills where they're purely working on their leading patterns, like most clubs do, but he seems comfortable and he's happy at the moment."

On the new rules

"We had a few 50s today, which was great by the umpires, so they're really umpiring really hard, and obviously the brief has been that they're going to really focus in on that. For our players, we have to keep looking at that and making sure they understand why, and the reasons perhaps they gave away 50. That'll be reviewed today... I think the players have adapted pretty easily, to be honest."

On the rucks

"It was the first real time that they've had to really jump into each other today, and they looked comfortable, they looked okay. It'll suit more than others obviously, but I thought Brodie's one of our best players out there today, especially his follow-up, which we know he's very strong at, but they seem to adapt it pretty well. He looked incredibly fit."

On the half-forward line

"The flexibility of our grip when we're healthy is one of our strengths. To have a McInerney who can go in the middle and play half-forward and can flip out to the wing, as can Errol, as can Chad, creates chaos for teams, and we have to deal with other teams that can do that as well... We think there's flexibility in there with what they do, and that'll change week to week with what we want to do, with what opposition we'll face."

On Ned Bowman

"Ned's shown that his ability in the air is really strong, and then he also can run on half-back and be a real line-breaker for us, so he's got a unique ability to be able to contest in the air. But also when he hits the ground he's pretty dangerous, so we've really enjoyed watching his flexibility in that space. He's going to have to really step up this year, obviously we've got some ageing players, and Dane Rampe's going really well, but we can't have him forever, so we think Ned Bowman's a player that's following closely in his footsteps, and can give us some real steel behind the ball, but also can give us some great run."

On role changes

"I think we've had multiple roles because we have players that can do it. Yes, we had a lot of injuries last year, and there were a few unfortunate ones, and ones you can't help. But again, I think Coxy and the coaching team have identified players that can play a lot of different positions, and we need to find out where their strengths are, where they can help us in the team, and we've given them a look at that for most of the pre-season."

On Jesse Dattoli

"Jesse Dettoli is just a deload at the moment. He's had a really good pre-season. You know, off the back of a pretty serious injury last year, he's completed everything. I'm really impressed with the way he's gone in a couple of smaller intraclub games and training. And as I said, it's been a big workload, so we deloaded him for this game today, which is really smart."

On Tom Papley

"Paps is going extremely well. He trained with the VFL this morning, showed no signs from all reports. He was flying around and he was up and about. So we're really comfortable where everyone is at the moment."