A Western Bulldogs victory in the opening women’s exhibition match will come down to effort, according to coach Craig Starcevich.
The Bulldogs’ side came together on Friday for their first training session and Starcevich says he is confident his group can come away with the win.
“We’re comfortable that we’ve got the personnel, comfortable with the plan, now it’s up to the players to bring the effort and we’re pretty confident they’ll do that.”
The Bulldogs will hold two training sessions ahead of Sunday’s match, with a focus on bringing a team together with several girls not having met prior to this weekend.
Starcevich said his group had already formed a close bond in a short amount of time.
“From the moment they all came together, there’s been plenty of talk and banter, so really surprised how quickly everyone’s come together, which is half the battle for this weekend.”
The Bulldogs forward line combinations are an exciting prospect with Mo Hope, Katie Brennan and Phoebe McWilliams set to spearhead the Dogs’ offensive line.
“They’re all in good form, they’re hitting the scoreboard regularly, they’re all hard workers, they’re all pretty honest workers and they can lock it in if they need to.
“However any number of players could roll through there, we want to keep it a little bit unpredictable.”
While Starcevich’s main focus will be on his side, he said despite a small amount of preparation, it was important they looked at the opposition.
“We’re really looking at the opposition and how we can pick them apart, but also not losing sight of what we bring to the table.
“I think the type of player that we’ve picked, I think we’ve covered off every area of the ground and we’re really hoping that we bring the right effort.”