Luke Beveridge addressed the media ahead of the team's clash with Adelaide on Friday, and westernbulldogs.com.au lists the five key takeaways from his press conference.
On the challenge of winning interstate
It will be the Dogs third of five interstate trips this week, and Beveridge is keen to see improvement to his sides' recent record as the traveling team.
“Our challenge coming off the Western Australian journey against Fremantle a bit earlier is to play well interstate, we haven't had a great track record in recent times, so regardless who it is we want to give a good account of ourselves.
“We've experienced some times when we've been ok and we've won some games interstate but as you evolve and things change, sometimes you've got to get your mojo back, and when you get into a bit more of a hostile environment where the opposition crowd is extremely parochial, then you've just go to deal with it and that will be part of our challenge.
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Key Dogs confirmed
Beveridge has confirmed the return of skipper Easton Wood from injury and says Marcus Bontempelli has pulled up well after last week's game following a week off with a sore hip.
On Wood: "He'll play. He'll come in for Aaron (Naughton).
On Bontempelli: "He's pulled up pretty well, he's pulled through ok. It's on a short turnaround but he's fine, he'll play.
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On Dale Morris and Marcus Adams
The defensive pair have both been confirmed to return to the field after long injury layoffs.
On Morris: "Dale will play against Werribee for Footscray. He's been out for a while and the nature of the injury, it doesn't matter what you go through in your rehab, you can't quite replicate what that match day intensity is.
"We just didn't feel like we'd be doing the right thing by him rushing him back. It was tempting but he'll play VFL."
On Adams: "He'll play at VFL level."
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On the likelihood of another tall coming in
The Dogs played just the one recognised ruckman last week against Brisbane and Beveridge said fans can expect to see another big man selected for the trip to Adelaide.
"Strangely enough it didn't look great at centre bounce when he (Brisbane's Stefan Martin) started to spike the ball and then around the ground.
"But our midfield did a terrific to be able to read that and cater for it and we won some clearances.
"But as you mentioned it looked a little bit volatile for us, and Tommy Boyd did a great job in the ruck, so we'll definitely consider bringing another ruckman in."
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On team morale after three straight wins
Beveridge said the team will take some confidence to Adelaide considering the circumstances under which they've won their last three.
"As you can imagine, it creates an energy through the corridors of the place.
"The boys are really buoyed by what they've been able to do out of uncertainty, because there was some real uncertainty, even though we identify areas that we know we're better at, whether you can pull it off again is questionable.
"So, with a new mix of players and a chemistry we've seen over the last few weeks, albeit we're not winning by big margins against teams that are around us on the ladder, it doesn't really matter to me or us at the moment, it's been pretty good."
