Western Bulldogs head coach Tam Hyett says her team will go to work this week ahead of Friday night’s double-header at the MCG.
The Bulldogs suffered an opening round loss to the Giants at Manuka Oval, but Hyett was confident they could turn things around this weekend.
“It wasn’t ideal – it’s not the best way to start...so we’ll go to work during the week and tidy some things up,” Hyett said post-match.
“We’ll do everything in our control to be better.
“We know there will be hiccups along the way – this is one of them. When it’s all said and done, there is a lot of learnings out of today but I know we’ll be better for the run.”
After allowing GWS to get the early jump, the Dogs managed to arrest momentum in the second quarter before falling away in the second half.
“The first half was probably a tale of two halves. We were under the pump a little bit in the first quarter – we just needed to take a breath – but managed to survive just out of sheer grit, and then we got things back on our terms in the second quarter, but just didn’t capitalise,” Hyett said.
“I think our method was really good and something that we’ve been training, so the positive was definitely that second quarter and how we got ourselves back into the contest.
“In the second half we retreated a little bit into some old habits, but we’re a young group and are going to have fluctuations in form.
“We’re also understanding of where we are at as a group, and they just want to be better.
“We’ll go to work next week and tidy up a few things that hopefully can have a better impact come next week (against Port Adelaide).”
Captain De Berry echoed her coach’s assessment.
“I think we had some real positive moments – obviously we fell away in terms of (four) quarters but the moments we did have were impressive,” Berry said.
“It’s just putting those things into action (for longer).
“We’ll have another shot this week so will work hard on the track and with our coaches.
“It’s obviously a big game and big day for the club so we’re all really excited to hit the G on Friday.”
The AFLW Bulldogs will host Port Adelaide from 4.30pm on Friday, before the AFL Dogs meet Hawthorn in an Elimination Final from 7.40pm.
