FIVE OTHER POINTS FROM CHRIS SCOTT’S PRESS CONFERENCE

Is Cooper Stephens close to a debut?

“He’s done himself no harm in terms of his preparation through this period. He’s a smart young man, Cooper. He’s jumped on board with Joel Selwood and tracking him around a little bit and trying to mould his work ethic around Joel’s, which is a big ask. He’s already a young pro. He’s not ready for us to pick him in our team this week but I suspect he’s going to come on pretty quickly.”

What does Patrick Dangerfield (ahead of his 250th game) mean to the group?

“He’s been transformational (for our club). Too often we roll out the cliches and it’s all about the team and everyone’s got to play their role — and that’s true to an extent — but it also overlooks the impact that some individuals can have on the whole organisation, not just with what he’s done on field. He’s going to go down as one of the alltime greats in my opinion, but he has been transformative for us as a club as well.”

How much of an advantage is it to play Hawthorn at GMHBA Stadium?

“The game is played a little bit differently, but each to their own to work out what the impact of that narrower ground is. Does it give us an overwhelming advantage? I don’t think so. I think the crowd takes away from that a little bit as well. I think they’re a really good team and they should be to an extent. They’ve recruited incredibly well to have the success Hawthorn has had and we’ve got great respect for them.”

How different will the team be to Round 1?

“Not overly different. We’re in better shape than we were then, to be frank. Now we’re 11, 12 weeks down the track, we were clearly underdone going into Round 1 and some of those players who made it to the line but weren’t quite at their best will be better for the extra couple of months of training.”

It’s not a physical aspect (with Jack Steven), it’s more of a long-term …

“We’re backing the eight-week lockdown they had, that they did the work. But we were unable to monitor them, so there is a bit of the unknown there. Jack’s had an extra bit of uncertainty. (He) really only missed about a week-and-a-half of training. He played in the Colac game, which was JLT2, and played really well — I think he’s in better shape now than what he was then — but maybe the uncertainty is just enough for us to be more conservative with him.”