Ross McQueen - East Perth Coach (09.06.2026)

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
This is what everyone's talking about. Everything's on the table. This is what champions come to take. This is what everyone came to see.
No do-overs, no second chances, no more Mr. Nice Guy. This is Winner Take All. The NBA Finals continue on ABC and the ESPN app.

**Mark Duffield** (1:00)
Welcome back to the SENWA studio out here at Up The Stadium on this Tuesday morning for East Perth Showers in our Fair City today.
There were showers at the weekend as well. I was crying. East Perth, 48 point winners over South Fremantle. I think it's South Fremantle's third loss in a row. And they haven't come real close over the last couple of weeks. Ross McQueen was the one steering the East Perth team. They're in Goodnick after a slow start to the season. He joins us on the show now. Ross, welcome.

**Ross McQueen** (1:33)
Yeah, good morning, Duff, how are you doing?

**Mark Duffield** (1:35)
I'm very well, thank you, mate. So a night goal win over South, how did you do it?

**Ross McQueen** (1:41)
I don't know to be exactly sure. I watched the game again last night. We've got a review meeting of things tonight, but it was pretty tight early. I think in the back of the third quarter, we managed to kick a couple really quickly. And then the last quarter, maybe just a bit of after a while, you get four or five in front. And the game was pretty competitive early. Like I said, it was pretty hard going. Maybe we just took some opportunities late and it was good to finish with a nice strong win for a change of stuff. But I'm normally having this conversation with you and Southampton have beaten us for fun again. So it was very nice.
Things turned around a little bit.

**Mark Duffield** (2:18)
Fair enough, fair enough. I'll cop that, I'll cop that. Five goal to zip, final term sort of separated the game, didn't it, after it was reasonably tight. I think you were about three goals up at three quarter time.

**Ross McQueen** (2:30)
Yeah, yeah, exactly right. The start of the last quarter there could have gone either way. I think the first clearance went to South Ramano, but we managed to, the first two or three minutes we held up, and then I think we got one out, sort of fast break and out the back, and that pushed it out to four. And then, like I said, then it was always going to be pretty hard. It was one of those days where no one was really scoring quite freely, and it was only late, like I said before, that we managed to get some.

**Mark Duffield** (2:58)
You had a bit of a sluggy start to the year, Ross. What do you put that down to?

**Ross McQueen** (3:05)
It's hard to say. We really lacked that consistency, I think.
Without being exactly sure, I think it's sort of been a loss and a win, and a loss and a win, and a couple of wins and a loss and a win and a loss. So it's just that consistency.
You know, a few new players within the playing group. You know, obviously, some guys have come in. Like every club, we've had a few injuries at different times this year, so we've had a number of changes to do with that. Everyone's got better. You know, even, I think the closeness and the competitiveness of the season is really evident. So, yeah, I think it's just a bit of that. Like the runaway team, obviously, last year was South from Mantle, and they're still a very good team this year. I think once they get a couple back from injury, they'll be there about some. And Clamont started the season really strongly, and now teams are trying to find a way to beat them. So it's pretty tight, I think. And so as much as we've been inconsistent in terms of how we play a really strong brand against Clamont one week, and then we get West Perth, who were just much stronger and better than us at the second week, you just can't be that 5% off. It's pretty cliche, I know, but I think it's just the tightness of the season. And yeah, we're just looking to get some continuity in the players as well, that will help.

**Mark Duffield** (4:20)
I'm going to say, I'm looking at your form line over the last six weeks or so, and it's a strong form line. I mean, there's a six point loss to Peel Thunder and they're flying at the moment. And you've got winds over Swan Districts, West Coast, Clamont and South in there. And then the four point loss to West Perth on WA Day, and that's the only game that West Perth have won for the season.