Losing games of footy doesn’t sit comfortably with Western Bulldogs vice-captain Marcus Bontempelli – particularly when he knows what the team is capable of.
The Bulldogs have been up and down in 2019, and have a 4-6 win-loss record to show for it after 10 games.
Brilliant wins against the likes of Richmond and Hawthorn have been balanced out by losses to the likes of Carlton and North Melbourne, where the Bulldogs have produced just small patches of their best.
“It’s a little bit frustrating that we can play so well probably against teams that are higher than us on the ladder, and I wouldn’t say turn up, but manage to play quite aggressively and fiercely in those games,” Bontempelli told RSN’s Breakfast Club.
“And then unfortunately there’s a bit of a theme with some of the losses, that have come against teams mostly below us on the ladder.
“That’s a little bit frustrating, because as an athlete…. you want to be able to show your best week-in, week-out and become that consistent player that’s reliable and relied upon.
“Unfortunately that’s not happening for us at the minute.”
Bontempelli said finding that consistency week-to-week, and within games, had been a big challenge for the Bulldogs’ youthful group.
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“Even in the last quarter we found the best patch of footy we played for the whole game and it ended up putting us in front,” Bontempelli said of the game against the Kangaroos.
“But even after that time we got in front, there were a number of critical errors which resulted in North scoring and then us not being able to contain the momentum.
“They’re just little concentration or preparation cues that aren’t quite sticking for long enough at the minute.”
Despite back-to-back defeats, the star Bulldog is confident it’s not through lack of effort.
And he can see the team learning, and getting better – and just needing to translate that into four-quarter performances.
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“We’ve just got to play better, that’s probably the fact of the matter,” he said.
“Losing is frustrating… I don’t put it down to effort, to me it’s not an effort-based thing. I still think we turn up and have a crack no matter what.
“The fact is when you lose there’s a lot of key learnings that come out of it, so it means that you’re going to benefit from that.
“We’ve just got to do that this week.
“Obviously a tough opponent in West Coast on the road, there’s a challenge there for us to really show up and play well.”
