Western Bulldogs senior coach Luke Beveridge says his team will look to deliver another four-quarter performance against Sydney, as they continue to strive for consistency this season.
The Bulldogs will host the ladder-leading Swans at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night, launching the second week of Sir Doug Nicholls Round.
Beveridge said it will be a great test for his group, considering Sydney’s form to this point of the year.
“I think we’re just getting a sniff of maybe what we can do and what we’re capable of, but as we keep saying we wear the inconsistent appraisal of us. It’s just who we have been,” he told media on Tuesday morning.
“We’re looking to shed that and be a more consistent team in game as much as results-wise.
“It was a pretty good four-quarter effort (last week) without getting the reward on the scoreboard.
“Playing against the top side this week in a Sydney team - when you consider athletically and in the contest of benchmarking the competition this year; what a great challenge for us coming off a couple of good weeks.”
Beveridge said while they will have a plan of attack if skipper Marcus Bontempelli is tagged again, they will also need to consider how to best limit the influence of some of Sydney’s ball-winners.
“We'll definitely look tactically to quell the influence of some of their movers and shakers, and their sort of match-winning types – we need to mitigate against them being dominant,” Beveridge said.
“I think one of the things Sydney have done really well against us over the journey is that they play a confronting, physical brand. They come at us in an adversarial way, historically. We admire that in any team that does it.
“We’re expecting the same thing, so we’ve got to be ready for that.
“We’ve got a number of choices of what to do in (a tagging) situation – we went a certain way in the first half against GWS, and when you’re playing a front half game, you’re creating so many opportunities.
“If your skipper in Marcus isn’t necessarily shooting the lights out possession-wise, well that’s okay. He doesn’t have to - it’s all about the team and winning the game.
“We still felt we could get an advantage in another way in the second half, and part of that was Marcus sacrificing his own game.
“Sometimes funnily enough, when you do that you end up being the centre of more possessions and that happened a little bit with him, particularly in the last quarter when they came off (the tag) a bit.
“He’s a great team player, so we’ll look at it from two angles.
“I’m sure there’ll be some attention (from Sydney), but as discussed, we need to make sure we take care of their stuff as well.”
The Bulldogs will this week wear the home iteration of their Indigenous guernsey, designed by Tarni Jarvis (Djab Wurrong, Kirrae Wurrong and Peak Wurrong), who is also the cousin of key forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.
