Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has praised the character of his playing group, but cited "monumental" missed chances in a 14-point loss to Sydney on Thursday.
Down to just two available players on the bench by the final quarter and coming off a five-day break to face the ladder-leading Swans, the Bulldogs threatened to snatch a late win, but it wasn't to be.
Head knocks to Anthony Scott and important midfielder Ed Richards, compounded by a nasty knee injury to key forward Aaron Naughton, left the Dogs out of fresh legs. The three in-game injuries were also on top of a forced late change, with Ryley Sanders coming into the side for an ill James O'Donnell.
"In the long run, I just thought our players showed enormous character," Beveridge said post-game.
"All in all, it showed there was great integrity in what the boys did and obviously against the top side, so it's just a shame, we had a bit of bad luck. You never lose and feel like a winner, but in my books our players are winners tonight, I thought they were outstanding."
Beveridge said that the club would continue to take a conservative approach to players who experience head knocks, leading to Scott being subbed out of the game just four minutes in after a head clash with Sydney defender Harry Cunningham, followed by Richards being ruled out in the third quarter after a similar incident with Ollie Florent.
"We're extremely conservative (when it comes to concussion), we'll always have our players' health and wellbeing at the forefront regardless of whether or not it even costs you momentum or even the possibility of a victory here and there, you've just got to take care of the players," he said.
"So yeah, they'll go into concussion protocols, will obviously miss next week's game, and beyond that, you know, hopefully they're OK and can play the next week but we'll wait and see."
For Naughton, the club is optimistic his knee injury, incurred after his right leg buckled awkwardly under a tackle, is not as severe as initially thought.
"The indications are that it's hopefully not as extreme as an ACL, but you never can tell. So, we'll give you the information after they've looked at it a bit closely, and they get the results back from the clinics. Fingers crossed that it's not too extreme," Beveridge said.
After the Swans got out to a 30-point lead midway through the final term, the Dogs continued to press, getting within eight points with six minutes left on the clock after an impressive Jamarra Ugle-Hagan goal. Much of that ability to challenge late, according to Beveridge, was thanks to a young midfield mix.
"It was like the Triple R radio station in there, we had Rhylee West, Riley Garcia and Ryley Sanders, and the experienced one in Adam Treloar holding his end up, and I thought they did an enormous job," he said.
"I think system and game style look pretty good, we just made some monumental blues and missed monumental chances to give ourselves any real chance to win the game."
