Preliminary Final - Fremantle Assistant Coach Jade Rawlings (18.09.26)

0:00Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time. We go, we go, we go, we go. Ask your prescriber about Wigovie, some Maglatide Injection 2.4 milligrams, a G.O.P.1. Call 1-8-3-3-4 Wigovie or visit Wigovie.com to view the Medication Guide and to learn more about Wigovie. Why wait? We go, we go. This is the Bunnings buildup on AFL Nation 4 Bunnings Warehouse here at the SCG for the preliminary final. The minor premiere free-mantle booked writer passage here with a victory last week over Jolong in a semi-final. Jade Rawlings from the coaching staff is with us. Jade, it's always great to have your AFL Nation welcome. Thanks very much, Jared. You're an old pro at this sort of stuff by now, but is there a prickle of excitement around a preliminary final? Yeah, particularly. I'm actually not a pro at this level of a few prelims at second tier, but not so much at AFL.

1:00When I was at Melbourne in 2018, I was in the AFL staff and missed out on the trip to West Coast because we were playing next day against Box Hill. So it's a bit of a first for me, but I've loved the final series. I think we all get judged with how we face it versi and deal with setback and clearly we provide a bit of ammunition how we played in the first week, but the responses there last week started look more like ourselves and the everyone's drives who thinks they can win it, want to be in this weekend. So we're in a privileged position. Does it feel elevated? Does it feel like it's all on the line? Yeah, it does. That's what you go through in your own mental prep is to there's so much to game as a whole heap to lose, but you want to be here. It's the thing you strive for and great 40 usually stems from preliminary final weekend and hopefully we're part of a good ones tonight. Jade, Chad Corns here, mate. Can you just take us into selection and how tough it was leaving Brennan Cox out of the team? Yeah, go, Chad. It was interesting because he's had a lot of little setbacks this year, which the public wouldn't know. He heard his knee a few times during the year and continue to play. Then we gave him a few weeks and then he heard his knee again, continue to play for a couple of weeks and then we

2:03gave him a bit of time off. He came back and just his conditioning started to probably decay and then he had an instant with a calf against Carlton last round of the year and they were looking to project 21 to 28 days. They think it was the 28 that landed today or tomorrow. We just didn't feel as though he had enough condition for a preliminary final. Chad, so he's a Ripper. Cox, he's a very understanding. I don't know if he's accepting. He's understanding of the decision. But if we do get it done tonight, he'll go and play a peel and the waffle ground file on Sunday and present us with something from that. Yeah, Jade, Ken Hinkley, mate. How are you? Well, thanks. Ken yourself. Good. Thank you. I suppose the challenge with Cox is, doesn't make it any easier next week as you just said. You've got to get through tonight first, but unchanged probably if you win tonight, what's he got to do in the waffle? Just get through. I can't really answer that, Ken, because we haven't gone down that path with him. Basically trying to deal with our own stuff first and then know that the six day factor is real with Cox, he post Sunday, so it's something else we have to factor in. So by not playing in this weekend, if we do get through,

3:04then we're having the same argument next week. They haven't got the condition. So as you guys know, when you get to this time of the year, I think you've got to trust what you stand for as a selection committee and fit players is what you have to back in and talk us through learnings, lean learnings from week one to week two. It looked pretty obvious when you're watching the boys play on the screen. What was it like from inside the club? I pretty much has been you guys would have covered. I've read a fair bit of it and it was pretty accurate. We just didn't step up to the moment and deal with the demands of finalists for the first week and all for and present a level of intensity, which I don't think we didn't match it. I just don't think we dealt with it as efficiently as we could have and then the pressure of not scoring started to compound and then it just felt like 20 point margins felt like it was a bit far where that margin hasn't been a stress point for us this year. So the way that we reviewed our coaches outstanding I was pretty praising highly for who he is and how he goes about it. But he just lent him to stay in calm everything he said publicly is what he was in the high and close doors and we reviewed strongly as we should do after the Hawthorne game

4:06and I think the benefits were there because the players were accepting of where the opportunities were to improve our 40 in. It's been a bit of a mantra along this year that the team that improves their 40 the most will be the one that gets to stand up in the dice next Saturday. So we're still in that improvement game and a lot came out of the first week helped us a second week. But we still think it is more in us from last week. So Jade, the Sydney Ford line which is powerful and dominant against Brisbane. You can have some tough matchups in the back line. How much of it will be a sign matchup? Bers your defenders just playing parts of the ground. Yeah, a bit of both. So I think we're at our best and we have preferred opponent but we don't get dragged around all over the place. So Alex and Oscar have shown that they can handle the big boys pretty well. Chapman and Ryan have forced the play tall when they need to. McVee is coming in heel palm paply. So that's what he's done in the past. So he's back in good form again, Judd. So he's playing really well for that. And then they've actually got quite an interesting mix of Braden Campbell, Tom Hannley, Datoly and Cody. So a less experience, but

5:08actually all present their own levels of athleticism and competitiveness and role playing. So it's a bit more than just the big guys that we have to deal with. And that's a good challenge for us. One of my favourite players to watch in the AFL is the captain Alex Pierce, just how ruthless, how tough and aggressive he is. Can you just take us, but like off the field and behind the scenes, just what kind of person, what kind of leader he is? Exceptional person, Chad, I'll bit biased because he's tazzy and we've been up over the years, tazzy boys stick together, but he they come home. Easily tempted, I reckon. But exceptional human being, I've been self and I'm very close to Alex, as is my family, he's been unbelievable to my partner and my children. And he just lives his life in a really good way. He's got a bit of that Bohemian spiritual type of fellow who lives in South Freemantle. And he just rolls with the wind a little bit, but he just he gives everything of himself to the club to his team mates. He gives a lot to his people and his family and his life. And that's what I really respect him, but he just brings

6:09it game day. I'm not shocked that you like him, Chad, the way you went about your footy here. Everything you wanted in the captain as a centre-half back he is. And I love how he's kept growing his footy this year. I've got a couple of quick ones and I don't want to take too long. Travel, when did you get here, charter flight and when do you return if you're, if you're I mean, clearly, when you win, when do you get back out? Yeah, flew out Wednesday, Ken and the charter flight got a bit of airtime in the media earlier in the year, but it's been brilliant to about a better club than being a position to provide that for the players for preparation and especially recovery about a go back. So we can't get out tonight because of the curfew at Sydney Airport. So I'll be tomorrow morning, but that part of the the travel has been really consistent for us. We always go two days. The players not one word of complaint or why do we have to go that the two years of when at the club, they're stepped into that part of it really professionally. And it makes it more same with when you get to this time of the year to deal with travel. It's not effective for our group. And have you talked at all internally? I'm sure you wouldn't have put the Sarong brothers head to head any chance. I'm assuming that

7:09probably would be pretty close to each other, but I don't deal too much of midfield part over the get it. Even when I was at Norwood, I gave the midfield over to the system. So I did not get it at all. I'm with you. Jade, appreciate it. As ever. Good luck tonight. We'll hope to see you next week. Good to chat here. Thanks, guys.