Former Premiership Tiger and now current Assistant Coach at the Suns, Shaun Grigg, joined Scott Cummings and Tim Gossage to discuss their frustrating season so far and preparation for the Friday night clash over here to against the Eagles.
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Friday Night Footy is back in the West, actually it's sort of a co-double header on Friday night because the Bulldogs take on Melbourne and the West Coast Eagles the game we care about Host the Gold Coast Sun's on the road and the Gold Coast Sun's assistant coach is Sean a Greg who? Has played at this venue. He's one of his last games. He played only places. He hasn't played No, exactly. We've done everything achieved at all and he's one of the great plate's cost You know, I don't throw that around Willie Neely That's your second language don't throw it away. We only have good likes on the show. He joins us now morning Gregy Good morning, Dawson Scotty. Thanks. Had me on. Oh, no, it's a pleasure to have you mate How's things now is life on the Gold Coast for you? No, I really enjoying it and moved up late last year and to really you know it with gaming hard week After spending so much time within it has been been really exciting. So, you know the part of my coaching journey, which is Really a challenge. This is it Sean. This is the on-the-road win that the boys have been pining for It's this week Friday night Against the West Coast Eagles surely surely we can tick that off this weekend. Oh, yeah, well, we certainly hope so You know, we're really excited about playing on Friday night. Our first first Friday night going for the year So, you know watching the Eagles over the last couple of weeks that they're going to be tough to tough to handle the the Derby there was It was fiery and there's there certainly out for the contest How much is dimmer change, mate from a from a coach That you had to to being the guy who walked away from footy because he was burnt out and exhausted and then coming back He's he looked pretty calm for the first part of the season Then the the loss in Melbourne where he got a little bit cranky. I said there's the old dimmer. He's back again Yeah, he certainly he certainly hasn't lost any passion so game and and winning is a competitor and And and hates losing so yeah It's been been really good like I mentioned before to come come up here and be a part of this new challenge with him But the best the best part about dimmer that I'll sound over many years is he's a great motivator and um, you know He's great a strength is is to get the players to buy into to what what we're doing and you know and some of their specific roles within that so uh, yeah, he's he's certainly Full of passion and full of energy and he's coaching well At the same time as sure and sure and greg is our guest assistant coach for the gold coast sons It must be frustrating because I think you know that that home record nine and one the away record of zero and nine There's just there's just no balance there. It's it's a complete imbalance. I mean that must be frustrating for everybody players coaches staff management fans Yeah, absolutely because we've seen our best footy is really really good and stacks up against, you know Sort of the best teams we've been able to to knock off a few, you know Really strong teams up at home with some with some quality footy that we know is going to stack up long term But you know on the flip side of that. Yeah, we are impatient everyone is you know dimmer all the coaches the players You know, we want to produce that football all the time So that's the challenge for us is to keep educating that keep keep teaching that keep rewarding that and you know Give the players a great understanding what that looks like, but what it feels like for them to play that sort of footy So that's the challenge for us as a footy club, but you know some of the positive things we've been able to provide is I think we've got four sellouts up it up on the gold coast. So the most sort of in the history So Um, it's a bit for us. It's you know build it. No car We need we need to hold up our land of the bargain and play really strong footy and you know and provide the the gold coast supporters and people up here A good spectacle to come and watch the gold coast is one of those curious ones for me Not your side, but any sporting side on the gold coast green I'm not sure the golf has had a successful franchise in in any sport What are the challenges that you see up there how different it is as a player in melbourne as a as an assistant coach down jalon What are the challenges you see on the gold coast that probably make it a little harder than anything else or are there any differences that make it out? Yeah, there are some differences being obviously a rugby predominant town But what i'm saying i've been really impressed with is is the work that um everyone up here at ifo queens then have done with the academy I was really surprised coming out now. I'm how many people and young kids that come through those academies and my own children at primary school up here the Asl starting to turn, you know, you see you see kids with gold coast sound footies at school and hats and and those sorts of things So it definitely is turning and the gold coast have done a great job with the academies as we saw We had some four first round picks last year with some homegrown talent. So it's definitely starting to turn and we're leaving the Benefits of that And then probably the what what we want to achieve as a free club is we don't want to be everyone's second favorite team, you know, ever for the Hope's goal coast goes okay, but i'll sort of experience that at richman when we started winning You sort of want to be hated by everyone Because it's so hard to play against so for us it's we want to capture All the goal coast supporters and bring them along for the journey, but also want to be sort of um Yeah, we want to be sort of hated amongst other teams because they're a good pretty team You'll be hated on friday night the west coast eagles are hosting at optist stadium and they were they were okay for Oh, they're a cap of motion seven tenths of the game. I think against a free mantle seven tenths matt rall Um has last two visits to town Excluding the game earlier in the year because the votes haven't been handed in we picked up the brown low votes on both occasions That you had two wins here This venue you were here earlier in the year against freemount put up a pretty good effort too I think you only lost both three and a bit goals What was the vibe out of that wit that performance and and if you could bottle things that you did right? Or maybe you didn't do right on that last visit. What would you do? Yeah, I think it's just playing out our best footy for for longer that sort of but has been a trend About interstate trips and away trips is we've sort of just had those lapses within a game Whether it be, you know, 10 15 minutes where we're allowed the opposition to put on a few goals and ultimately that's been the difference in the game So for us it's that consistency of performance and you know You're probably right with you know rally and most of the midfield group if if we can get the job done in there and get the ball Forward and keep it in our forward half. It's going to go a long way to winning Um, you know getting the game on our terms, especially away a couple of questions about the UI And I don't you've probably been sick to death as a football club being answering these questions, but have you had any outside influence whether they be prominent people or Potions where people have said, I've got a good idea how you can get turned this around You know whether it's sleeping upside down in your bed whether it's drinking Some magic potion whether it's flying in seven days ahead of the game Whether it's flying in and landing one minute before the venue Have you been inundated and have you tried stuff and you're continuing to try stuff Always inundated in this industry with everyone's opinion, but you know for us it's even Damien and selfy is played obviously at poor Adelaide and been successful with an interstate team and Um, you know some experience. We've had at Richmond playing well away and also jalong so Um, you know, we're still trying to find out the best the best balance and the best mix for our our team, but um, you know Certainly it comes down to you know being able to play your best footy anywhere and no matter the conditions or how you're feeling So we'll continue to educate the players through that we'll continue to to try some different things and Find the right mix for us. What about flying in and flying out? Because it is a fairly long trip of course the Gold Coast Perth It's a lot of people who just do it for holidays find it difficult, you know going to Brisbane or going to Sydney and then getting into Into cool and gather and then driving to the Gold and all that sort of stuff Have you are you going to plan to do anything different being a Perth trip and being a longer one? Uh, no, so we just we got to fly over The day before the game and then just fly straight back So we don't we don't have to go to Brisbane this trip that there are some trips. Uh, we have to drive to Brisbane just due to the Uh, the flight's not being available from calling gato calling out as not a huge airport. So Uh, we're fortunate. We've got um, yeah, we've got a fight in and out of calling gato, which is which is a bit easier for us Disappoints me you'll be flying straight out my dog penciled out my Saturday. Oh my friday night and then Saturday morning that anyway Oh fine another time. Hey, uh, you must be happy. You've probably got the better of the king twins Um, Ben's been going pretty well Gold kicking is a little bit of a concern how much work she's been doing on that Yeah, he's had a great year king. Yeah, he's his competitiveness for us. It has been really really good. Whether he's been marking them or bringing them to ground Um, you know the improvement He's showing that she's been huge and you know he's goal kicking all years been great He's he's been a sharpshooter and he's kicked them well. He is going through the last two weeks He's getting a lot of shots and he hasn't taken those opportunities But he's been working really hard all year on his goal kicking and takes great pride in it you know, we're expecting him to to put him through starting this week and particularly a way it's A hostile crowd to get some scoreboard pressure on the opposition early is going to be uh vital for us Yeah points out like the fast start when you uh when you are away and in a hostile environment is is so you're so important But also, you know the eagles coming off the derby it can drain you and you know They threw everything they had at Fremantle on the weekend. It was physical It was tough and and a lot of said it was draining. How important is that first 25 minute screen? Yeah, absolutely it is. Yeah, we want to really start well and the last couple of weeks We have started well We we just haven't converted I think on the weekend We were two goal six at quarter time and the week before was something similar So if we can uh, you know sit that around and kick you know a couple of goals early and put some pressure on the opposition and Get our boys up and about it. It's going to go a long way fast Been in the game and ultimately coming out of the full point Sean, have you heard of Harley Reid? Absolutely I've watched him play this year. He's a fascinating client To people uh coaches when you see that the opposition get in his grill and He gets a little bit off track and he still produced a great performance on the weekend. Don't get me wrong He was outstanding Do you put that mark down as look we've got to get in his face it because if we don't he Can probably get off the chain and be the superstar that everyone is expecting him to be or can you also lose? Uh process if you're all go after one player in particular I'm not interested to know about the the the thoughts of the coaching staff preparing for a guy like harley read at the moment Yeah, we obviously have to be um, be wary and respect what he's been doing because we're saying throughout games. He's just um torn in the parts through that middle he's so combative and explosives Through throughout that part of the ground. So for us, we'll have a few plans in place to nullify him and look to exploit him And um, it's going to take a whole team effort for us It's not going to be one or two players, but you know, I think um to your first point I think we can get you know, just stuck that'll take him away from our game If we see focus too much just on the one player or you know, roughly he's fed it If the ball's not there for us, we want to be part of the ball and win the ball and get that forward first and foremost So um, you know, we'll be going after that I agree. Lucky well. Well known over here. He returned a couple of weeks ago after a year out of the game It's a a great thing to see him back out there every found him or has he traveling in his couple of weeks back Yeah, absolutely. He's been an absolute pro with his rehab And you know, unfortunately, it's the second day. See how he's done in sort of two years So if I walk to get back in this later part of the year, it's been a real credit to the work he's done And you know, we we're really craving his sort of bounce and ball use off half back So for him to come back and pretty much he comes straight back into the team and didn't plan he very felt So for him to perform how how he has after pretty much two years out Been a you know, you know, great sort of not we're not really surprised by it is a quality player But the way he's going about it's been terrific Simple terms is you've got to win every game You've got to win every game and rose results have got to go your way You've still got a chance to make it It is that type of season for the gold coast sons and starts here on friday night In simple terms for the listeners do you come here with confidence? We do yeah, we think our best foot is good enough and the challenge for us is can we do it for long enough? If we can do that we feel like yeah, we can we can get the four points And get on a bit of a run and like you said that it's on us to win the last four games And you never know what can happen made just before we let you go We're trying to get our heads around a premiership favorite here If it's not the goal coach you played Brisbane on the on the weekend short terms. Are they a genuine contender? I think so Brisbane Brisbane were really good on the weekend and they've shown their body of form over A long period of time now stacks up. So that'll be one of the favorites I'm sure going in especially faking sort of finishing that top two top four and get a couple of home final Sure and great fantastic player to river your assistant coach all around good bloke as well If you change your travel plans, you let me know mate But thank you very much for joining us here this morning on Scotty and goss Thanks, I missed. What's ours? Thank you. Thank you.
