SHUTTING OUT NOISE

Q On Tom Boyd, there would not be many 21-year-olds in Australia that have had to deal with the unfair criticism that he has received over the last few years.

A The only solution to that is shutting yourself off from all the external noise and commentary. But these days, young men and women have such an appetite for media. I was amazed at how well Tom handled it for a long time. There are other pressures too. He has a diagnosed mental health issue that is there regardless. But the scrutiny does not help.

Q How do you beat the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday?

A I think we need to get more of the same we got against Carlton. I think we were able to defensively shut down their uncontested marking game. With Gold Coast, if you let them out and carry the ball, you are in trouble. If they get an advantage at the coalface, that gives them a look too. We will need to pressure them early and make sure they do not have time.

Q There was commentary around the Bulldogs not tagging Adelaide’s Rory Sloane the other week. Do you put time into one of the Suns’ gun midfielders in Cairns?

A People just do not understand what transpires in games. Sloane was playing forward a fair bit early so he had a defender on him. When he went into the midfield, we had midfielders assigned to him. He kept trying to go to Marcus Bontempelli. I did not think Sloane was as influential as he has been at points during the year. It was mainly their key defenders.