Western Bulldogs coach Tam Hyett says she was not surprised to see her group respond to unprecedented scrutiny with a 33-point win over Carlton on Thursday night.
After a ‘brutal week’ that saw the Bulldogs coach and her gameplan in the spotlight after a goalless effort against Essendon, Hyett said she was proud of the on-field response.
“To be honest it was a pretty brutal week – the external commentary was pretty tough,” Hyett told SEN 1116 on Friday.
“Some of the things we’ve been working on, we weren’t able to execute (against Essendon). I can only speak from our performances, but we’re going to have times where things click and sometimes they don’t.
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“What we’re trying to do is give our group the best opportunity to win.
“Our messaging hasn’t changed from my perspective – we just connected better last night and we were able to even it up.
“We’ve been a really strong defensive side...the offence is always a work in progress but the methods we’ve put in place last night we are getting rewarded for.”
Hyett said she was most pleased with the connection across all three lines in her third win at the helm, and was not surprised to see the group respond the way they did.
“I think the pleasing thing was the connection - obviously you're coming to the season with ideas of how you want to play,” she said.
“Then being able to put that all together across all facets of the game - our contest, offence and defence - I think we were able to put it together for four quarters.
“We’ve got a group that are hungry and a talented group, so there's no surprises there.
“It’s just probably that consistency and execution.
“The plan to success is never linear. You know you're going to have some ups and downs, but we know we're tracking in the right direction.
“The support that I've received from the club has been amazing.”
The Bulldogs will host St Kilda at Mars Stadium in Ballarat on Sunday 27 October in the first week of AFLW Indigenous Round.
