Q. Have you got the midfielders to go one on one with the West Coast mid-field at the moment?
A. We will put our best eight there because they will play eight through the mid-field. They will play Jones and Embley on the wing and half forward and they will throw in Sampi. Probably the only bloke they don't throw in will be Phil Matera. He just goes down to the goal square and plays as a short full-forward. He is quite amazing young player.
Q. It is a nice test for David Hille to come up against Gardiner?
A. Gardiner has been fantastic for them so it is a huge test for David. That is the great challenge of footy - most of your life you are playing on someone better than you. Unless you are an absolute champion - very rarely do you get the opportunity to play on someone you are better than. That goes for most players in most teams. When you are restructuring your side in a slightly transitional period like we are - we have to be asking our young players to lift. Marc Bullen played extremely well on his opponent on Friday night. That is a real plus for a five game player. If we can another two of those sort of kids like we have done in the past - it will be fantastic for Essendon.
Q. You are four and six - are you still a good chance to make the finals?
A. We are a good chance still.
Q. Even a loss this week?
A. If we can get somewhere near our best side out there for a period of time we will give it a run and put a bit of a worry in some sides. It wasn't that long ago that we played one of the best games of the season against Collingwood on Anzac Day.
