Sydney Swans AFLW senior coach Colin O'Riordan spoke to the media on Wednesday, speaking on the side's loss to Carlton, the run to the finals and a match up with Collingwood in Melbourne this weekend.

On the loss to Carlton

"I think we were in the game for the large part of it. I think our fundamentals and our skills probably let us down at certain points in the game. I thought our entries inside 50 could have been a bit better and that's probably the main thing we reviewed all week was how can we get better at that, the difference between hard ball, live ball, what it looks like, the right time to put speed on it, the right time to go long versus when to hit ups. Something we worked on all week and will continue to work on is probably the main thing."

On how the team will make amends this week against Collingwood

"I think it stems from training every week. It always does and the game day on the weekend is a reflection of what you do during the week. That's up to us to train it this week, make certain drills for the players to make them realise what it looks like in practise, review training with vision, show it back to them and then give them a clear insight into what it looks like. That's what the game for us will be this week."

On how they plan to approach the next three weeks leading into finals

"I think coming up to finals, some people get honed in on that and what it looks like. We're just looking for consistency every week, I always say it, but we review the game based on our standards and what we want to do. There's obviously an element that we discuss and talk about that we obviously want to be in that part of the year, that's a given, but our mindset, we don't want to play trying to be safe as well, trying not to lose, you want to go out and try and win the games. That's what we just need to shift our mindset to back to, we've put ourselves in a really good position, they've earned the right to be in the position they're in, so now it's just about being consistent week after week for the next three weeks and hopefully then giving us the best chance of playing deep into the finals."

On whether there was an element of playing it safe against Carlton

"No, we're just trying to guard against it, you don't want to go into your shell. I think the real problem, or not really a problem, but the concern you'd have as a coach is after a couple of losses, morale is low, confidence might be a bit low, belief might start to waver but I think, like I said, we've put ourselves in a position and we just can't play safe. I think that's not us, that's not how we want to play footy, we want to be an exciting brand of footy, we want people to enjoy coming to our games and watching us play a really attractive brand of football and for us that's what we're after and I think playing safe doesn't give us the best chance of performance either, so it's just guarding against complacency and guarding against a little bit maybe a lack of belief after a couple of losses in a row for the first time this year, but just getting back to what we do best is most important this week."

On whether he is concerned about structural vulnerabilities against strong teams

"l I think it's been pretty clear why we haven't, I guess, matched it against those teams and we've reviewed that really deeply and we had a good chat yesterday on what it looks like and the best teams and the better teams, they just don't allow you the time and space of every other team. The reality is Doggies, North and Carlton are probably top six teams at the minute and it's a really good lesson for our group who are a pretty young group to come up against more experienced bodies and what it looks like to play at that level against bigger bodies when you don't have as much time as you think you do, they're top six teams for a reason, we're aiming to get there but I think the main thing we've learned is just you can't take your foot off the gas against these teams because you get punished and it's not really a concern for me, I've immense trust in this group, I've said it from the beginning, we're a really young group and we really are, we're (the second youngest in the competition with some of our experienced players out but what a great learning curve it's been for so many of our players so immense trust in the group we have and we just need to get back to what makes us a good team this week."

On Maddie Quinn

"I think she's stood up to the plate massively and both Maddie and Tay, we're asking them to play a role obviously given the significant injuries we have and both of them just stood up to it and again. I'm on record saying she's a 19-year-old kid playing as a key forward in the competition and she gets bashed a lot so we need to protect her a little bit and what that looks like this week, probably needs a little bit more support in the forward line from whether it's height or whether it's just protecting her a little bit and not making her I guess get bashed in the ruck so Tay's done a really good job in that sense. I think it's a nice angle, we're exploring different things we can do every single week whether that's Tay forward, Tay ruck, Maddie forward, Maddie ruck, do we give someone else a chop out in the ruck and help, do we give Mads a chop out in the ruck, we're bringing someone else in, it's all these questions we have to think about every week so we'll work through that this week and come up with a solution hopefully."

On Chloe Molloy

"Chloe's been outstanding, that's the kind of player she is, she's been absolutely outstanding. I think ideally you don't want to go to the same player every single time but I think we used to have the same, I'm not going to say problem, but Lance Franklin used to lead up with a level of intent that you just had to hit the footy to and if you look at Chloe's vision when you lead with that level of intent you're going to demand a footy and I think that's what you see. Ideally you don't want to be reliant on one player but I think Chloe's showed over the last few months how much of a superstar she is but yeah it's probably just probably changing up a little bit for us, yeah being unselfish and selfless in our roles in the forward line but trying to mix it up a bit going inside 50 which we've worked on this week."

On the potential of bringing Caitlin Reid in

"Yeah definitely, definitely someone we look at, we look at everyone on our list every single weekend look and yeah we're going training now in a few minutes and that's where it all starts, hopefully we get a good session in, we get some key position players or key players who played scrimmage, get a look at them and see if they can put their hand up for selection and that's what we ask every single week which is an option we have and something we'll definitely consider."

On confidence going into the last three games

"I thought we were okay, there's still elements of stoppage we have to improve but I think the main thing for us the weekend was a little bit of fundamentals and skill execution. Like I said post-game but at the same time we believe in our system and I said that after the first six games and I'll say it still after losing the last two, our system stacks up and we trust every player to come in and play their role and know your role and play your role and that's all we ask and I think you showed on the weekend we're plus seven inside 50s, we probably just got beaten in the contested stuff and then a little skill execution here and there let us down and gone inside 50. Lack of connection probably didn't help us either but yeah I mean it's trust in the group to play to the system and when we play our system and we play our brand of footy and how we want to play we know it stacks up so we just need to do it for longer this week."

On Collingwood

"Well I think every club in the next three weeks is going to try and take a scalp, their mindset will be probably trying to stop us from getting to where we want to get to and you'd be naive to think that Collingwood's going to be any different.
I don't really look into what other clubs do in terms of what's been said or what's been written, we concentrate on what we do, our brand of footy, how we want to go about it so there's no doubt that they're going to be ready to go against us and we just have to match it and bring the heat early and if we do that we give ourselves a chance but I think that's probably the main thing we focus on this week is rocking up early, right attitude and ready to go from the start because if you don't this game, it probably brings you down pretty quick."