“Tell them to win”.
Those were Brit Gutknecht’s final words to Bulldogs’ head coach Nathan Burke as she departed Alberton Oval in an ambulance on the eve of half-time.
And that they did.
“She’ll be pleased with that,” Burke told media post-match.
“You love to win but it sort of leaves a knot in your gut for Britney.
“I’m not going to go into the whole backstory, but she’s just worked so hard to get herself back into this team, playing in a position that’s not quite hers. We had to put her in the team based on how hard she’s worked.
“As you can see, the girls were a bit flat in that third quarter. It’s just natural that they’re going to feel that way.
“We’ll support her as much as we can.”
Despite claiming a 19-point victory over Port Adelaide, Burke said there was plenty of room for improvement before their next clash.
“I don’t think we’ve been 2-0 with me coaching so that’s good,” he said.
“To win on the road too – we’ve only got two games on the road (interstate) so to get one under your belt is great.
“It’s a bonus to win and come off thinking ‘gee there’s a lot of things we can clean up’. “That’s pretty much what today was.
“Everything down from where we are having shots from, our forward entries – we had a lot of them especially in that last quarter – but we’re having shots from too far out. We’re not kicking the ball to advantage of our tall forwards either.”
Burke commended the efforts of skipper Ellie Blackburn, who suffered a cut lip in the opening quarter, and Isabelle Pritchard for her impact on the wing.
The Bulldogs will next host Fremantle at IKON Park on Friday 9 September from 5.10pm AEST.
