A modified defensive strategy is paying dividends for Western Bulldogs Coach Rodney Eade as the team start to see results.

The loss of Jarrod Harbrow in the offseason to The Gold Coast Suns, as well as a string of injuries to Ryan Hargrave and Brian Lake has left the Bulldogs with a void in their defensive stocks.

The struggle of Lindsay Gilbee with injuries and form has further contributed to the skeletal defensive line.

A personnel shift has seen Shaun Higgins getting the call up to by Eade to shift back in an aim to generate more run out of the defensive line.

“With our injuries early in the year to Hargrave, Lake, obviously Harbrow going and Lindsay struggling we didn’t have any setup,” Eade said to Triple M radio.

“I thought that our defenders defended ok but we just had no setup, we couldn’t get the ball out of the press, we made a lot of mistakes and we couldn’t get the ball inside fifty.”

With a number of coaches favouring a forward press this season, the ability to move the ball out of defence is increasingly important.
The Bulldogs had struggled with turnovers in their defensive half earlier this season prompting Eade to discourage taking unnecessary risks in that half of the ground.

“We needed to get the ball out quickly but maybe not take as many risks because we had too many turnovers in that part of the ground,” he said.

The loss of key defenders has forced Tom Williams and Easton Wood to step up joining regular contributors Robert Murphy, Dale Morris and Gilbee in the backline.

The restructure has undoubtedly contributed to the teams past three wins, with

Eade hopeful the new found form will continue heading towards finals.

“Full credit to the players and the staff, we were able to stick together pretty well,” he said.

“We are certainly not out of the woods at the moment but the last three games have been pleasing and looking forward to a big one on Sunday.”