Scott on the initial takeaways from Thursday night

It is hard to know exactly how big a win is until you get more exposed form, but we were pretty confident that they are one of the best teams at the moment.

As I have said a lot and I absolutely believe it, it is not who you play it is when you play them. They have been pretty hot, the game last week against Gold Coast was two of the hottest teams in the competition. Especially the way they attack, it is not just their personnel ahead of the ball it is their overall attack and they are a real threat.

It was good for our team to play on that stage, in a really hot environment, it was Finals like in terms of the pressure. There were some errors, but it did look for big parts of the game like two pretty good teams going at it.

Especially for our young guys in that sort of environment, it was a really good experience. 

Scott on the second half shift

There was a shift after half time, I think it was a little bit of the modern game, I guess it is just realising the way the game is played early in the season.

The conditions are generally really good, it is conducive to good scoring. But the competition being so even does mean that there are lots of momentum swings.

There was a real concern for us in the second quarter, all your greatest fears are coming true when they get some momentum and they have some offensive flair that can get on top of teams.

We thought it was really important to hang in, there were a few changes structurally but again, I don't think it was from the box it was more the players adapting to the stage of the game. 

Scott on Tom Atkins' performance

I don't normally do this, we really like Bailey [Smith] and Max [Holmes] was good as well, but they weren't as good as Tom Atkins.

That was a really special game, especially when the heat was on and we were being outplayed.

We thought that he was the one that stood up, I only say it because the high profile players always get the plaudits.

He has been a really important player for us for a long time, he will be embarrassed that I said this because he doesn't want the external credit, he is that sort of guy. 

Scott on the young defenders standing tall

It was difficult, and it was impossible to do without entrusting guys like Connor O'Sullivan in those roles.

We saw it at times tonight, often with the best attacking teams in the comp it is sort of which one is it, was it really good forward craft or was the ball use just so good that it was hard to stop.

I think there was a bit of both at times, but we thought guys like De Koning were really solid back there.

I wouldn't credit it to great coaching, I would direct the credit to those young key defenders in particular. 

Scott on Easter Monday

We spoke in the pre-game, about the privilege that you get to play in these sort of occasions.

Our next game is Easter Monday, it is a Geelong home game at the MCG and there will be over 90,000 people there.

That is pretty cool for Connor O'Sullivan and Mitch Knevitt to think about.