Q – Given what you’ve just said – does it surprise you that so many people want to pot Essendon and put the big question mark over what we can achieve next year and maybe the year after?
A – No it doesn’t surprise me because I think that people want that to happen. They’re wishing for Essendon to fall, they delight in the fact that a successful club, successful players are not achieving. That seems to be how some people operate. Those people are what I’d call mediocre. We can’t worry about that here at this club. We strive to be excellent and we strive to achieve. I don’t make any apology for that and I respect other clubs who have the same sort of ethos. I might not like them but I really respect them.
We’ve got to strive to be better than the best and be better than we have ever been. If you are going to be pulled down by people that believe in mediocrity then you never deserve to achieve success. We as a club have to acknowledge that they’ve got their problems and just let them get on with that. I learnt long ago that you can’t influence what people think, you can only influence what you do and what you’re responsible for. I’m not interested in mediocrity, I am interested in success. I’ve got to try and lead the players and make sure they are thinking the same sort of things and disregard the rest. The louder their bleats are for mediocrity means the more successful we are.
