Watch Assistant Coach Steven King review the Club's 38-point win over Gold Coast on the media player above in the latest BulldogsTVWeekly Wrap.
The good
Assistant Coach Steven King told BulldogsTV that one of the most pleasing signs from the Western Bulldogs clash against Gold Coast was their ability to convert scoring opportunities off the back of winning at the stoppages.
“We were able to generate a fair bit of score from the stoppages while restricting our oppositions which is a real positive for us,” King said.
Area for improvement
An area for improvement this week relates back to the Bulldogs focus on winning the contested ball across the four quarters. Gold Coast were in front in the contested ball stat at the main change, however the Bulldogs turned that around in the second half. The dogs prevailed with 159 contested possessions compared to Gold Coast’s 152.
“Once the boys got going they fought back pretty well and ended up winning that stat so a positive in the end,” King said.
Stat that mattered
The key statistic for the night was the Bulldogs domination driving the ball into their forward line. The Dogs came away with 22 more inside 50s than Gold Coast (WB 56, GC 34). King said the Bulldogs should have converted more scoring opportunities but the fact that they were able to play the game in their forward half was a step forward. Another stat the Bulldogs won convincingly was in the tackle count (WB 87, GC 63).
Player of the Day
King says Zeph Skinner’s impact after being subbed on for the fourth quarter was solid. He laid a couple of tackles and slotted through his first AFL goal. In what was his first senior AFL game for the 2012 Season Skinner played in front of a number of his family and friends up north in Darwin making the appearance extra special.
Dream Team Analysis
• Matthew Boyd ($546,600) again led his men in the Toyota AFL Dream Team scores with 128 points. While he only collected 29 disposals his 6 marks and 7 tackles no doubt boosted his score.
• The rejuvenated Brian Lake continued his good form with his 24 disposal and nine mark performance rewarded with a score of 106 points. If he was able to convert a number of scoring chances like in previous weeks his score would have been even greater.
• In his 150th game Ryan Griffen did not disappoint with a 104 point Dream Team score. His 26 disposals (16CP, 9UP), 6 clearances and 7 tackles ensured that he was at the top end of the Bulldogs scoring ranks.
• Young Tom Liberatore ($325,700) caps off the Bulldogs players to score over 100 points this round with a total of 102. Well above his average of 73.43, Libba is slowly building - his average in the past three rounds is 90 points. During Saturday’s game he collected 24 disposals, 7 clearances and 6 tackles as well as kicking the Bulldogs first goal.
