Influential defender Hayden Crozier says the Western Bulldogs need to keep backing themselves in, as they prepare for a must-win clash against the Adelaide Crows.
The Bulldogs will host the Crows at a sold-out Mars Stadium in Ballarat on Sunday afternoon, with a finals berth up for grabs.
Crozier believes playing with intent will hold the Bulldogs in good stead.
“I think it’s just the boys backing their natural instincts,” Crozier told Sportsday SA this week.
“Bevo’s really strong on that.
“We basically play what’s in front of our eyes, and we’ve got some damaging half-backs in JJ, Matty Suckling and Taylor Duryea to name a few.”
After slowly building into the season – and going into the bye at 4-7 – the Bulldogs have won seven of 10 games in the run home.
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Some fine-tuning, and an in-form midfield group have helped the cause.
Particularly over the past month with big wins against Fremantle, Essendon and the GWS Giants.
“The first half of the year we were a little bit too inconsistent and weren’t really happy with the way we were going,” Crozier said.
“But we’ve sharpened up a few things and we seem to be going alright at the moment.”
“We’ve got guys that can really run and bounce out of our back-end, and we’ve got a really strong midfield and they’re performing really well at the moment.
“You saw on the weekend their ability to be able to fire out quick handballs and get the ball to the outside was terrific.”
