Michael Hagan Media Conference - Manly

parragirl · Michael Hagan Media Conference - Manly

11 May 2007

MICHAEL HAGAN MEDIA CONFERENCE – MANLY

Q) THE OPPOSITION HAD A VERY GOOD SECOND HALF DIDN’T THEY?

A) They had a second half like we had our first half I think. They controlled the footy and ultimately it controlled the scoreboard.

Q) DID YOU THINK YOU NEEDED TO COME AWAY WITH MORE THAN A 6-2 HALFTIME LEAD?

A) I don’t think there was much in the game to be honest. We had a bit of field position at the start of the game. We knew it would be a grinding sort of game given the conditions. We got the first half pretty well right I think, but not the second half.

Q) DID YOU HAVE CONCERNS OVER SOME OF THEIR LINE BALL TRIES?

A) No not really. They had an element of luck it could be said – the first try where Timmy did well to catch it and then it slipped out and then Steward did well to score in the corner.

Q) WHAT ABOUT THEIR SECOND TRY?

A) I didn’t study it to closely to be honest, but you normally expect them to go against you if they are line ball.

Q) HOW DO YOU THINK JARRYD HAYNE WENT IN SO FAR AS ORIGIN GOES?

A) He did no harm whatsoever. I thought his first half in particular was strong – he ran the ball well and caught the footy well. He is a confident player and I don’t see Origin as worrying him.

Q) WHAT ABOUT THE INCLUSION OF RIDDELL?

A) He got cleared by the doctor late on Thursday. He has trained for a week or so. It was an unexpected bonus for us.

Q) YOU CHANGED THE WINGERS AROUND AGAIN?

A) It was a decision made bearing in mind they type of attack they were running at us and trying to manage Krisnan Inu a bit and Tim in so far as their workload is concerned. There is no doubt they were trying to send some traffic there a bit.

Q) YOU MENTIONED DURING THE WEEK YOU HAD A SPECIFIC GAME PLAN. DID IT COME OFF?

A) Well half of it did. You have to be extremely good and miserly with the footy when you play against them and we were that for the first 40 minutes. The only disappointment I would like to add and it is something that we have to sort out is the amount of soft penalties we are seeing in our game. In a 6 all ballgame, they are the ones we have to do something about. I don’t think the people running our game understand the damage that is being done to games like tonight and football teams when you are under the pump – it is one disappointing aspect of the game tonight you can look at for sure.

Q) WHICH ONE IN PARTICULAR?

A) The one at 6 all when countless others could have been penalized. You need to look at what field position is gained from that – you need to look at how that is affecting teams.

Q) DO YOU TAKE THAT UP WITH ROBERT FINCH?

A0 I’ve talked about that in the past and when you are in the losing rooms you don’t want to have to talk about it as much. Teams should have to fight their way out of trouble, within reason. I think that is a fair expectation of both teams, and I think both Clubs would expect that.

Q) YOU’VE HAD ORIGIN EXPEREINCE AS A COACH – HOW DO YOU THINK BRETT STEWART WOULD GO?

A) I don’t know if that’s my place to comment on that to be honest. If they played it at Brookvale he’d be a chance I suppose. He’s a super player.

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