McGovern press conference 02.04.24

Intro Jeremy welcome to Melbourne I guess in some ways um what is it like you know spending a few days here um and what what is the plan I guess over the next few days as well uh yeah obviously the Plans for next few days plan just probably the best sort of set up for us uh for the next couple of weeks obviously we go to gather around this weekend now so um yeah the club thought it would be a good opportunity for us to stay over here and obviously young group try and try and bond a little bit more um and save us a flight as well obviously we don't have to fly back to Perth and then and then come back again so um it's been good so far and it's uh yeah it's been been a bit of fun with it with young boys and and everyone getting together but um yeah it's mainly for our preparation so the bonding side of things is that is that part of it and and how do you go about that is it does it look a bit different to what the week usually looks like in terms of spending time together um oh Spending time together the week's pretty similar with our prep with training and stuff but it's just probably more where we're together a little bit more at the hotel and um spending a little bit more time with each other I think it's a bit of both obviously like I said the preparation for us to prepare for for games and less flights and then also the caveat of it is we do get to spend a bit more time with each other as well what is it like at the moment you obviously being a leader of a young team that is you know really going through a difficult transition period how do you go about managing that and and talking to these younger players about what you do I I go Leadership of a young team about it as normal as I I normally would like obviously senior player and um sort of a leader at the footy Club you want to try and help them and and Fast Track these boys as much as we can so um yeah that's that's the goal not just for myself I think for everyone uh so yeah it's it's been a little bit different we've we've got to had a turnover of a lot of players last few years and we are extremely young but um for me it's exciting I actually I'm I'm enjoying it I'm loving it um I'm just trying to do everything we can to get these boys back on track and in terms of the way you're playing at the moment um there's been some talk that you could move forward and provide an an option down there is that something you think could take place more forward you'd have to ask Moving forward Simo and the match committee um I'm I'm said it multip able to play wherever wherever the team needs me um I I'll play anywhere but um yeah that that's up to them and uh that might happen uh if it does great um if not it's all good as well but um yeah wherever wherever the team needs me for us to perform as well as we can how difficult is it um you know you've obviously had great success in the past amongst this team and now it's very different you know competitiveness is um perhaps not of the highest how challenging is that for you to to keep going week after we um yeah Challenges it's a challenge for sure um but we also understand where we're at um understand our group and obviously a lot lot of young boys um we've had pretty tough couple of years with injuries so there's a few few different things that come into it um but the CH it's actually exciting having a challenge like that and and trying to work through it and um that's what we're trying to do is senior players and as a club and as a group is is try to work through these challenges and uh take steps forward which I think we've taken small steps uh but we're just obviously not consistent enough at the moment how's Adam going ad the moment obviously challenge for him do you you know talk to him what's his mindset do you think that at this point Sumo yeah sumo's been great um he's focused he understands like I said where we're at um what we're building towards um and he's just trying to keep everything as consistent as possible for us and uh trying to find those small wins but also driving us to get better so um now he's been great his attitude's been awesome I think everyone at the club's attitude's been been really good but yeah for us we we're trying to get back there as soon as we can and and be a bit more successful than what we are obviously a lot of attention um out west on on Harley Reed you know he's back in Melbourne now Melbourne boy how have you seen his first few weeks and how's he settling you think yeah he's been great Harley Bird he's he's been looking forward to coming back here I'm sure and uh seeing his family and stuff a lot of our Victorian boys it's a little side thing to us staying here it's great for those boys to see their family and friends so um it's been great Harley's handed himself really well um obviously a lot of attention's been on him and but I think the way he's handled it it's been been awesome and um he's very much just a footballer he just wants to play play foot and and be extremely competitive which he is so um I'm pretty proud of the way he's he's handing himself and I will support him as much as we can going forward but um he's been awesome since he's been um sorry man what was wash up Su guy um oh as it normally is we we review We review pretty hard and um we looked at a few things yesterday which were pretty disappointed about um all over the ground uh but we also looked at some small positives that we had we had 50 OD inside 50s um stoppage looked pretty good at times so um we looked at those small things but also the areas of improvement um so yeah it was a normal review but we we we're pretty disappointed with the way we played yeah what went wrong because as you say as many inside 50s as there you just could not you once you got past Center and the accuracy just really let you down and I guess that takes a lot of wind out of your start yeah it does yeah What went wrong the front half we we didn't give the Fords good Supply at times um we couldn't lock it in our front half at times um we didn't defend behind it at times there's a lot of lot of different things um but yeah we we looked at the positive side of getting it there and then now it's for us to train it this week and try and adjust and get a bit better service for the forwards um and then defend better behind it so it's a it's a lot lot of lot of different things um but yeah like I said most most reviews are very consistent with us but um yeah it's pretty clear on the weekend we uh we didn't convert up forward as well as we like Adam made the point out the game is guys like you and Elliot you are right at the top of the experience and a lot of guys like Harley who are getting started and not much in between just the importance of building that experience you know building a you know games into these guys as quickly as possible get yeah yeah there there is a bit of Diversity diversity there I guess in the age and experience and unfortunately with that you can't Fast Track that these boys just got to play um so and which which they will uh so yeah it's just trying to get as much game time into them as as we can and get the continuity between the group as as good as we can as fast as we can uh so um that that'll take a little bit of time but we're going to work on it as well as we can and part of the reason why we're here for the week is just start building that continuity as well and we get to spend a bit more time with each other and um and all those sort of things is that particularly good through through a team of demographic like West Coast to get away for an extended period like a little bit of a mini camp up yeah yeah there's positives to it for sure and and that's the clubs identified this probably best preparation for us for for our games and uh save us a flight um and then we get to spend a bit more time with each other and um we got a lot of Victorian boys as well they see some family so there heaps of positives about it so um that that's part of the reason for for while we're here and um um yeah all the boys are enjoying it all the dads are enjoying getting a couple of days away from the kids which is great obviously I we miss him and love them but um yeah it's uh it's been a good little week so far