Dean Laidley

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To finish fourth was a bit lucky in a way. We still didn't beat enough of the top sides on a consistent basis. We only beat three of the top eight sides but somehow got into the top four. But having said that, we did a lot of things right during the year while also being able to play eight new players, so we were really pleased with that. We took a lot of opportunities by winning all but one of our games against the bottom eight sides so our consistency over a large part of the season was terrific. But we know we still have to do a hell of a lot of work to take another couple of steps forward. We showed we can beat the best sides, we now have to learn to beat the best sides consistently.

If you were being honest, how far did you think the boys would go in 2007,particularly after Nathan Thompson's season-ending injury in the pre-season?
Initially I was pretty numb. But I got on the phone to my wife driving home after the game and she just said, 'Well, someone will have to take his place'. I thought straight away that that was a pretty good way to look at it. We'd worked on a particular style and structure and it shouldn't have mattered who was there. As it worked out, we had people stand up and play that role – at different stages it was Leigh Brown, then it was Drew Petrie or Hamish McIntosh or David Hale – but we were able to find guys who could stand up with Thommo out of the side, and that was the most pleasing thing.

Which game did you think was the team's best performance?
The win over Hawthorn in the final was special to look back on but I think the thing that was most pleasing was that we were able to play consistently over a long stretch after we lost those first three games. I suppose I look back on the win over Fremantle in Perth and feel a certain amount of pride for how we dug in after losing a couple of players. I thought we did exceptionally well against a team who really was 'on' for that game given it was almost their last roll of the dice.

Quite a number of players who had been on the scene for a while emerged to show they have a great future – Mick Firrito took big strides, Hamish McIntosh was exceptional, Josh Gibson had a big year.
No question. I think we have developed a very strong core group of players who have taken some pretty good steps in recent years. But they need to keep improving in being able to consistently play well against the best sides and the very best opponents in the competition.

Going back to Hamish McIntosh, the club seems to be putting together quite a formidable young ruck combination with him and David Hale.
If you had have said that Hamish was going to have the year he had, I wouldn't have expected that. We always knew Hamish was going to be a good player for us but to perform the way he did was just amazing. I'm not sure where this stat ended up but I know that late in the season he'd been to 100 more ruck contests than any other ruckman in the competition. We've been mindful of that workload over the summer. Getting back to your question, I'm not sure there is a better ruck combination at the age of Hamish and David Hale in the competition. Yes, they have to get better in going up against the absolute elite in the competition – Brendon Lade, Dean Cox and Brad Ottens – but they are well on their way. And premiership sides have two genuine class ruckmen so we think we're pretty well placed there.

Can you think why the players may have fallen over so dramatically in two of the club's three finals?
There's a few reasons there but I just think Geelong were a very good side playing at the peak of their powers. Against Port Adelaide, I thought early on we had our chances but I could see in the players' eyes that they were probably buggered. We had a lot of players who played with injections and there wasn't much petrol left in the tank. The result wasn't what we were after, but if you had have said to me this time last year that's where we were going to end up, you would have taken it every day of the week.

In between those losses there was the win over Hawthorn, your first finals victory as coach. How important is it for a developing group to get that first finals win?
It's been a long wait for the club to win a final so I think it was a very important milestone for this group. It was a step in the right direction for all of those younger guys – Daniel Wells, Michael Firrito, David Hale, Hamish McIntosh – to experience that feeling for the first time. But I also think it was important for the blokes who have already been to the top of the mountain to remember what it was like to taste the feeling of winning another final. That can only help us as we go forward.

At the end of a disappointing 2006 you copped some pretty heavy criticism for the direction the club took with its drafting and trading policies. Given the relative success of 2007, do you feel comfortable with where the list is now?
In my first three years here we took a lot of kids via the draft and then had a fair bit of success with bringing Nathan Thompson into the club. We did a hell of research into Jonathan Hay but that ended up being a very expensive mistake for the club. But that's water under the bridge. If you look at that draft period we've ended up with Andrew Swallow, Ed Lower and Matt Riggio, and when we took Nathan we also got Jesse Smith with a father-son pick and Daniel Pratt with a late pick. So while we could have done better, particularly in 2005, I think we've still come out of that draft period okay.

You'd be pretty happy the club's future was dealt with prior to the Christmas break.
Personally, from a football department [perspective], and from the club as whole, I think it's great we've got that behind us. I've already been through starting up a new club when I was with West Coast – and that was in a football state – so I know how hard it is. It would have been very difficult from my point of view. So I'm really pleased with the decision and with the direction we're taking. I've probably had more conversations and contact with James [Brayshaw] and the board over the past five weeks than I've had with that part of the club for a while. It's going to be tough but I think James is setting a pretty strong platform for the club moving forward. Now it's a case of getting the support of our sponsors and our members to make sure he and the board can do all the things they want to do.