Hey, this meeting is being recorded. Yeah, a mute. All right, let me know. You're welcome to send me a message if you don't have the ability to record, but we just have our solo rider here today. Coach paul Riley is in the house. Um, does anyone want to kick it off with questions? Nicholas, go on ahead. Eight. Yeah. Hey paul, How you doing? You need to okay, sorry guys, how you doing? Good, How you doing paul? I was just wondering, um, very quick turnaround from last game to Wednesday's, is everyone gonna be available? No one picked up any knocks during saturday's game. Now we're fully healthy. We haven't made some decisions yet, obviously about lineups and stuff. We only, we practiced this morning, we gave them the day off yesterday, so we haven't made any concrete decisions, but there will be changes in the lineup. No question obviously with a game again and on saturday to so plus travel. So it's a tricky week to say the least. But I think everyone came through unscathed and obviously the people who need to get minutes got minutes and the people need to get rest, got rest and uh we'll make some changes. No question for Wednesday. But happy with the squad and happy that we've we've got no niggly injuries and they were healthy, which is good this time of the season for sure. Is that his Agnew is still out or is she back Lindsay's out? She's the only one. Obviously early Harbison and lindsey here is long term Lindsay's still out but everybody else is good scattered a breeze. Now, fully healthy Peyton's fully healthy kennels, fully healthy uh and the rest of the team mary specs back full full health. And so any, any of the niggles that we've had over the last couple weeks have gone now. So we have 24 training this morning. So I think we're getting pretty close to a full squad. Full healthy squad. Um but Wednesday is a huge test, obviously going there. They've won again uh that they won the last time before we went there. So before we played them, so that they're getting better, we got more confidence. And I think we have a little bit more depth and they've got to, we might be able to make some more changes. But midweek games tricky for no matter who you are, who you're playing. And they've got they've got a big fan base behind him and a good team behind him, great coach. And I feel like to be a difficult proposition on Wednesday night, especially after winning yesterday. So we'll see how we do mike, Go ahead, take afternoon coach. I want to ask you just your impression of Sam since she's been back. Obviously, you know, we can look at the score sheet and see how she did saturday. But what have you made about her performance in practice and how she's been able to get back up to speed and just your thoughts on her play? Well, I think for Sam it's incremental improvements every day. And she's done that to be honest with you. I think over the past 34 weeks you can see just start to nudge, nudge, nudge, nudge back to the best and I think she's gonna be beautifully for the olympics to be honest with you and and obviously for when she comes back for us. But I feel like she's right there, I think right now she's probably 17 minutes, 75 minutes at the best. Uh But what I want to see from her is the top best in 75 minutes. You know, I think that's that's probably it. Our intensity playing 75 minutes is not easy to do. I think that's about where she is, but I think she'll push on and get to 90 over the next couple of weeks. But she's pushed herself pretty hard to get to 75 to be honest with you at the intensity level that we train and player and the national team play out too. So uh but I like what she's doing, um you know, for us it's good because we can rotate it down into the sixties or into that, she can play in the tens. So it's a, you know, she can play a lot of different positions for us and bring a lot of different tools to the game and having her run out the midfield with the ball. Her range of past obviously is very good. She's dangerous outside the penalty box, she's dangerous inside the penalty box and as you saw the weekend she can combine two. So happy with the form to be honest. I think Sam's just she's just brewing nicely, you know, I think uh I think Black is gonna be very happy when he when he gets in another seven days. I think she'll be ready to go and I think she'll be in great shape for the olympics and I think we've done a great job preparing and she's done a great job preparing herself. She made a great decision I think to come back and make sure that you know training was what she required to be able to be the best and I think you'll see her at the best in the olympics, so I'm excited for that. All right, go ahead. Yeah. How do you feel you guys are playing right now? Just I know you know what, it's gonna take a lot of guys to hit your stride, but how do you feel you guys are playing right now and what needs the most improvement in your estimation? Yeah, I think we're still a major work in progress to be honest with you. I mean we just went through game tape now with them on the recap of the game and you can still see, you know, mistakes and defensive mistakes and challenges on the bill to, you know, we have been great on the build Uh you know, for 90% of the game will be brilliant on the building. Then we'll make a poor error which we did against Orlando, which we did again at the weekend and I just want to get rid of those, those unforced errors that we keep doing. Um but I'm happy with the team. I feel like from a spirit perspective from intensity, perspective from a challenge perspective and competitive perspective, I think we're in a really good spot. I think the main thing is just clean things up a little bit, uh you'll get some players to top for myself in this three or four, top players, not in great form but in good form, and I think it's going to take a little bit of time to get in there. I think the fitness level, the group is really good, so I'm happy with that and obviously the first time we played a major here at the weekend, but I would say if if there's one thing that I want to get better to build, um I think we're about 90% there, but I think that 10% is big for us and no sloppiness in the build, and it was prided ourselves over the last couple of years on being the best team in the league of building at the back on something that we never did the first couple of years to be honest with, you are very limited. Um but I feel like we've got the potential and the players to be able to do it and we just got to get better at it and obviously the final third has always been difficult for us. We need a lot of chances to finish and hopefully our finishing will get better, we'll keep working and keep putting them in front of goal. Um But it's good, you know, I thought Hamilton was really good at the weekend. I think the bean, you're starting to warm up, I thought you uh an average month to be honest with you not like to be in here, but she was brilliant in practice this morning. I feel like sam starting to get to olympic best. Um and that's a matter of, you know, angry James come into into the lineup over the next couple of weeks. Uh slowly get into her best form. I think she's been very, very good. She looked a bit tired second up, I think she's been very, very good. Havana Salon has been a breath of fresh air for us, playing really well at the moment. Hayley Mace, I think she's getting close to full fitness now, which will be a big help for us and then, you know, up front and keeping just healthy, keeping you healthy, keeping happy healthy if she plays up top keeping brit healthy when she comes into the games. Um And Carson and Merit have been good in the fullbacks, merit starting a little bit better each game. So I think that's a big improvement and we've solved, I think the sixth issue, we've solved a center back issues. So that's about pushing on and be a little bit better overall. Happy with the group. I mean, I think if it is 123 million the weekend we'd be saying, oh my God, they looked really good, but we didn't, we ended up to one fighting for our lives the last five minutes. So I think that, you know, I don't think that's a true reflection of how the game really went to me. So I'm really positive about the team and uh, I feel like we're just a little bit below par and it's going to take a few more weeks, maybe august. I think you'll see the best august going through september october, which probably be a good time for us to start picking up the points, we just got to hang around. You know, we didn't expect to be in the top 234 to be perfectly honest, we thought we'd be hanging around just in the spot to try and make the playoffs and hopefully will be in that spot. Come from august, september is the league itself right now as good as it's ever been? And is that a good thing? I think apparently is good. It's certainly good for us because everyone's taking points off everybody. I don't think it's a dominant team in the league is still, say paul in Chicago, the two best think Washington's right behind them. I think those three are a little bit about everybody else. Um, I think the rest of us all grouped together and I think whoever and get their projects going a little bit higher on the, on the, on the pole will be successful in the end and make the playoffs. But there's a lot of good teams that you haven't picked up, a ton of points like Houston, um, like ourselves. Um, and so we have good moments and then we have an average game and then we have a great game and then we have a poor game. And then there was inconsistency. I think throughout all the teams really below those top three and even in the top three there's been some inconsistencies. But I think it's the power of the league. I think it's the in and out of all the players internationally, US players to coming in now. It's not easy to manage them all to be honest with you when you get 8 to 9 players leaving and coming back and trying to keep everyone else with the same fitness level. I'm sure the other coaches would say the same thing, but I'm excited cause the league's gonna be close man and I wouldn't count anybody out in october 1st I think every team but we'll be in with a shot of getting into that 56 spot come october. I think that's why the league added these two spots. So I'm kind of glad they added them to be perfectly honest with you because they give us a better shot. No question about it. Um Casey, go ahead. Hi paul. I'm just kind of talked about this at the beginning. Just obviously it's a quick turnaround not only for this Wednesday, but really the next week and a half, two weeks, three games. How do you balance? You know, continuing to get better? Well not maybe having as much training time in between those games but also getting that necessary rest and recovery. Yeah, it's a tough balance. So I mean we we always call a squad is stick approach where the whole squad needs to play, then that's what we're gonna do over the next week is play everybody and make sure and see where we're at, see where these players are at. I think it's time to have a look at people and make sure that we know what we're at when we lose all our place for the olympics. So I think that's what we're basically concentrate on and obviously we're trying to get the points to but performance is more important for us. I think the point will come if we have a good performance but it is tough. I mean we're not taking some players away, we're gonna leave four or five home, they'll be training here and get ready for saturday. So we're going to make decisions that we feel will be the best in our interest to produce teams that can get the points on Wednesday and get the points on saturday. Um, So train is gonna be important. No. Even on thursday morning, when we wake up after Wednesday's game, who's gonna be training, Who's not gonna be training, Who's gonna be recovering? Who's gonna be resting? Uh who who would have stayed home and needs a good training session on thursday and then friday, basically just one training session. So lack of trained. I think we've had a great preseason with 12 weeks of preseason. So I don't think that training is really gonna hurt us missing a little bit of training, but I think it's just balancing everybody and my goal. Honestly, when we wake up monday morning is to make sure that on this week everybody is pretty close to the same amount of meters that they've covered. If that's 35 40,000, that's what it is. If it's 35,000, but I would think everybody between 30 and 40,000 for this for this 89 days and I think that's what I want to get every single player. I don't care if you know more one on the roster, Number 24 on the roster. That's where you want to get you. So that's really my goal honestly, by the time he gets to monday, uh, and obviously hopefully we'll get a few more points along the road. Awesome. We will wrap it up with Nicholas. Go ahead next. Yeah. Hey paul, with the international break, it's been a few weeks since I got a chance to ask you about it. But the two signings you talked about before the international break, do you have any sort of update on those and how those are coming along? Uh No update. Um One does not look very good at all. Uh Something broke down in negotiations. That does not look good and the other one is still a little bit off. I don't think that will get done till probably after the olympics will through the olympics. I think it will get done. It's just a matter of time. It's gonna take a little bit more time but the other one is off. Um So it's disappointing but it happens and we plug on with what we've got and I think we've got enough with what we've got to give it a run at least. But it is disappointing and it's a long story to it and we'll tell you on another day. Yeah. Is the one that broke down the player that was already in Raleigh? That would be correct. Thank you, paul. Leave it to Nicholas to ask that last question. All right. Thank you all so much for joining us. So we tune into the game paramount plus tomorrow night. 7 30. All right. Thanks everyone.