Jason Johnson has been the work horse of the Essendon mid-field over the last few years. With the injuries the team sustained in the mid-field in 2002 he carried a lot of the workload. This season the coaching panel has introduced new players into the centre including Mark Johnson, Dean Rioli and in recent weeks Marc Bullen to reduce Johnson’s workload. “Bully was great last week and Dean and those sort of guys help stop us being predictable in the mid-field as we have been in recent years. Most teams sort of know that I have been the person the ruckman hits it to so it is good to have those guys around the area and clear the ball,” the 2001 best and fairest winner said.

Q. The team showed against West Coast that they have such an enormous spirit.
A. It gives us enormous confidence when we do go out and play like that. It is just a little bit frustrating that we don't go out and play like that every week. We are working hard on that consistency and hopefully we can get it right by the second half of the year.

Q. Watching the intensity of the team against West Coast you really got the feeling that the season was on the line and everyone gave 110%
A. Definitely. We were four and five and if we had of lost against the Eagles it would have been four and six and it would have been difficult to make the top four. If we can get to seven and five at the break I think we will set ourselves up for the second half of the season and then get a few players back from injury.

Q. When we came out in the third quarter and West Coast had five scoring shots, how important was Adam McPhee's goal to stem the flow of the game and swing it back in our favour?
A. It just shows you have to make the most of your opportunities and they didn't do that at the start of the third quarter. They could have been three or four goals up and it would have been hard work after that. It was great to see Adam step in and kick a few goals from the wing - something we haven't had for a long time.

Q. Something else we haven't had for a long time is the Essendon supporters being so vocal.
A. The crowd was fantastic and they really got behind us.

Q. Sheeds said last week it looks like Rama is about two weeks away. Can you give us anymore news about his progress?
A. I spoke to him yesterday and he said he is trying to get up for my 100th game in Round 12. He reckons he will so hopefully in the next couple of weeks he will be thereabouts.

Q. One of the criticism the side has copped in recent weeks has been its stop start type play but against West Coast it was really play on at all costs and moving the ball swiftly into the forwardline. Is that something you talked about before the match?
A. We probably touched on that a little bit. More so the game plan was that everyone had an opponent and knew what they had to do. Our game plan is to play on at all costs and we did it well against West Coast.