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Michael Hagan Post Match Media Conference - Round 124 June 2007Q) MICHAEL IS THAT AS GOOD A PERFORMANCE AS YOU HAVE HAD THIS YEAR? A) I think it is certainly one of our better ones. There was some tremendous football played and there was some excellent defence as well. It showed how hard the boys have been working on both parts of the game and against a quality opponent it was a great effort. Q) THE BOYS SEEM TO BE ENJOYING THEIR FOOTY? A) There is no question about that. There is a great spirit in the Club and they are enjoying their training - they are preparing well for games and then playing well. I can't ask for any more than that at this stage. Q) DID YOU THINK WHEN YOU DROPPED THE BALL FROM THE KICK-OFF IT COULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THOSE NIGHTS? A) Well you hope it is not going to be. I think our defensive effort was great. There was a real tough period when we were on the back of some penalties and we didn't have much footy and the guys kept turning up on the inside and kept working hard for each other and we got a try at the other end and that sort of typified the effort out there tonight. Q) HAYNE AND GROTHE DID THEIR ORIGIN CHANCES NO HARM? A) I wouldn't have thought so. They are quality players and would not be out of place. Q) FELETI MATEO CONTINUES TO IMPRESS? A) Yes he does. He had a week off and was refreshed and I think that was a good situation for him to be in. He is getting more confident all the time and the boys like to play alongside him. He has a big future. Q) MICHAEL YOUR TEAM MADE MORE THAN 20 OFF-LOADS TONIGHT. WAS THAT A SPECIFIC PLAN FOR THIS GAME OR DID IT JUST PAN OUT THAT WAY? A) That is not something that we set out to do. You have to earn the right during a game to play some footy. There is a lot of that in the team though and we controlled the ball pretty well. Our support for the football has been something that we have worked on and we have done that well in the last few weeks. Players are putting themselves in a position where they can receive the footy. They got the balance right tonight - we played with some good control. I thought Brett Finch and Tim Smith took the team around the field very well and I thought Luke Burt was outstanding at the back. He has been in great form and was one of the stars tonight, along with Benny Smith. Q) ARE YOU ALLOWING YOUR FORWARDS TO TAKE MORE OF A RISK WITH THE BALL? A) I think that they are all skilful players and they need to understand when they can and when they can't force a pass but we had a night tonight where we were very confident in what we were doing. Q) MANLY AND MELBOURNE ARE GETTING THE HEADLINES AS THE PREMIERSHIP CONTENDERS. ARE YOU IN THAT BRACKET NOW AS WELL? A) I'm not sure about that and I don't know whether that is a real issue for us at this stage. We are mindful of how congested things are in the competition. If you go backwards one week you are really back in the pack. We are happy to be working hard, winning games when we can and staying with the better teams. http://www.parraeels.com.au/news/news1553.asp |