Western Bulldogs coach Nathan Burke says his side’s never-say-die attitude is something they should be proud of, despite being eliminated from the season seven finals series.

The Bulldogs were 17 points down at the last break in their elimination final against Collingwood, before a spirited two-goal-to-none final term saw them fall just five points short.  

Burke said that determination is unlike anything else he has seen in a team.

“We threw everything at them, and I had no doubt that we would because this side always does,” he told media post-match.

“I’ve never been involved with a side with as much guts as these ones have got. Not once have they turned up their toes and gone ‘this is too hard, we’re not going to win here’.

“They just kept pushing and pushing – that’s what they do. That guts is something that few sides have.

“We’ve got that, so now need to add all of the other stuff that makes a good football team on top of that.”

Burke said with a little more luck things could have gone their way, but it ultimately came down to some minor mistakes that turned costly.

“We made some silly and uncharacteristic mistakes – we fumbled and we hurried, and Collingwood capitalised on that.

“It wasn’t until we sort of found our feet and rhythm in the game that we started to play our game.

“We could’ve won the game, it’s as simple as that. You’re in finals to win them.

“Once everything dies down, we’ll look at all those things – experience, what we could have done better tactic-wise, etc. – but right here right now, it still hurts.”

Midfield bull Kirsty Lamb echoed the thoughts of her coach.

“We do so much right, but when we do a couple of things wrong it comes back to hurt us at times,” she said.

“I guess the most impressive part about it all is just being so proud of the girls. We were down by a fair bit at three-quarter-time, and we just have a never-die attitude.

“It’s disappointing, but also super proud of the girls to fight back and give ourselves every chance of winning the game.”

Lamb played a starring role in the Bulldogs’ final-quarter fight, slotting a late goal to go with 17 touches, seven marks and four tackles overall.

She said that first scoreless quarter harmed their chances late, but will leave the group with plenty of fire in their bellies.

“We’ve spoken about being a really united team and just playing with some pride, so it’s disappointing to start the way we did because you’re always sort of chasing your tail from there on in,” Lamb said.

“The group will learn from that. No doubt we’ll come back really hungry.”