Bassett on reviewing the game:

“We are always in a place where we are trying to educate our players away from the emotion of the result.

“It’s always frustrating and disappointing straight after the game especially when you’ve had a loss, particularly one where you had your chances and you didn’t play the way you would’ve liked.

“We’ve had two days to clear our heads, it’s good to have a good conversation about how we played - what we did well and what we didn’t.”

“We were not as strong in the contest as we have been - certainly post-stoppage and also the last two weeks we have conceded a lot from stoppage. It’s an area we need to improve.”

 

Bassett on making a contest in the air:

“I thought we had enough opportunity to bring the ball to ground.

“We might’ve blazed a little bit but we still had people in the contest and we didn’t get the job done in the last quarter.

“For the first three quarters it was pretty good but the last quarter we struggled in that space.”

 

Bassett on the midfield’s start to the year:

“They’ve had two very good weeks in the first two weeks and it has been quite a new combination and they’ve had some significant adjustments in personnel.

“They are learning how to work together but we need a bit more of that contest to contest hunt.

“It’s been ok - certainly been better than the back half of last season but not quite where we need it to be.”

 

Bassett on Sam Powell-Pepper’s role:

“We’ve tried to get him forward a little bit more, I think for balance in his game.

“I think we got that balance just about right against Brisbane - he did spend a lot of that first half in the forward line then went on ball in the quarter and really made an impact.

“He had the opportunity at both ends on Saturday and didn’t make an impact.”