Scott on Hosting a Big Club at GMHBA Stadium

It is rare playing the Hawks down here, I know we played them during the covid period but the time before that was 2006.

It is good having one of the big Melbourne teams down here.

With the new stadium and being a sell out tomorrow, I would be surprised if we didn’t get a record crowd down here and it’s in a good timeslot too.

Our games against Hawthorn over a long period of time have been good irrespective of ladder positions.

This one seems to me to be as good as any in recent time because of the way they are playing, they are clearly one of the form teams in the competition.

Scott on Shaun Mannagh

Shaun is an interesting one because he really hasn’t done anything wrong since he walked into the club, he was good enough to force his way in early.

Then really through circumstance he got kept out of the team, he has had the odd challenge here and there that led to a lack of continuity. 

Goals in the VFL is not necessarily what we judge him on, it’s much more than his offensive threat. 

He compliments the way that we think we have to adjust our forward half with Tom going out, we talk about him a lot but just haven't been able to get him in. 

It is exciting for him and for us that we could do that this week. 

Scott on Gary Rohan’s Milestone Game

200 games is a great achievement for any AFL player, but I really admire the players who come through adversity.

Gary had such a bad injury early in his career, which really in a way has plagued him throughout his whole career.

I have always admired the way he has gone about it, he is a great guy to have around the place.

In some ways he can be a barometer of the mood in our team, he has always been lauded internally for the stuff he does that is hard to see from an outside perspective.

This is one of the rare occasions where he gets to take the spotlight.

Scott on Ollie Henry Returning

I think we said last week that he was managed as much as anything, we still want to think through how we use him in the back half of the year.

He has had some little niggles which have led to a lack of continuity in training as much as anything, but it is certainly good to have him back in the team.

It gives us opportunities to think about our forward half differently, Ollie certainly plays a big part in that and getting Shannon Neale in there consistently is a positive.