THE WESTERN Bulldogs are hoping that Dale Morris will return for next weekend's crucial clash with Essendon after the club's makeshift backline was exposed for the second week in a row.
Having conceded eight goals to Carlton tall forwards Jarrad Waite and Lachy Henderson in round five, the Dogs saw Adelaide big men James Podsiadly, Josh Jenkins and Tom Lynch combine for eight majors in the Crows' nine-point win at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
The poise and experience of Morris, who has missed the past two games with an ankle injury, was sorely missed, especially given fellow backman Jordan Roughead remains on the sidelines due to a shoulder problem.
Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney said Morris would "most likely" be back to face the Bombers.
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"He got through a half to two-thirds of training the other day and wasn't quite right, so we're pretty optimistic," McCartney explained.
"But you can't bring one guy in and say everything's fixed. We've got to apply ourselves to reproduce a lot of today and work on the areas that hurt us at times."
After the consecutive losses, the addition of Morris could be among a number of changes, with McCartney saying he might have to "inject something into the team that's a little bit different".
The Dogs coach was disappointed with his team's inconsistency in its loss to Adelaide.
The home side was 28 points up early in the second quarter, and failed to score another goal until three minutes into the final term.
Nevertheless, McCartney felt his men performed better against the Crows than they did against Carlton last week.
"A lot of our supporters might be filthy with today, but we were despicable last week, in a lot of ways," he said.
"We were a lot better in a lot of areas today, and statistically it looked a lot more like us.
"But we had those two patches where we lost control of the game. (It's) fixable and avoidable and we've got to get back to it next week."
Tom Campbell had ice on his quad in the rooms after the game, but McCartney insisted the key forward was subbed out during the third quarter for team balance and was not injured.
Youngster Lin Jong was handed the big task of running with Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield.
Although Dangerfield finished with a team-high 29 disposals, seven tackles and seven clearances, McCartney was proud of the way Jong kept his opponent goalless.
Dogs veteran Adam Cooney was also full of praise for Jong's effort.
"He stuck to his task all day, so it's a tick for him," Cooney said. "He's just a great kid. I think he's enjoys a challenge."
Jake Stringer was another young Dog handed a big task.
The 20-year-old, who has played in the forward line for much of his short career, lined up in a key defensive post on James Podsiadly.
Stringer had his hands full, conceding two goals to Podsiadly before being sent forward and replaced by Liam Jones.
"We have wanted to have a look at (Stringer) as a medium back and … he started OK," McCartney said.
"But he was a bit like everyone out on the ground. We all edged closer to our opponents, weren't prepared to run and want the ball in our hands and get forward of where the traffic area was.
"We need even effort from everyone. When we don't get everyone contributing with effort and consistency, we have 20-minute patches like today, which are not good to watch."
The Bulldogs are now languishing in 15th place on the ladder.
But the topsy-turvy nature of the season means they are just one game outside the top eight.
So they can reignite their campaign with a good showing against Essendon next weekend.
"They're 2-4 and we're 2-4. Someone's going to get four points and be still in the mix," McCartney said.
"But even for us, if we spend too much time looking at the ladder and the scoreboard, we'll forget about what we're doing.
"We know what we look like when we play well, and the challenge is to replicate that more often."
