A look at what was said in the media after the Western Bulldogs’ narrow defeat to Collingwood on Sunday afternoon.
Playing his first AFL game in more than two months, Josh Schache was serviceable, kicking 3.0, but a frustrating lack of cohesion between the midfield and forward line, and inaccuracy in front of goal again cost Luke Beveridge’s side. – The Age journalist, Dan Cherny
Against Collingwood, they had a kicking efficiency of just 56 per cent in the forward half of the ground. Early in the final quarter, with the game for the taking, their three consecutive entries were intercepted… In the final 30 minutes it was 17 inside 50s to eight and they scored 3.2 to Collingwood’s 3.0… The Bulldogs do a lot right, and when they do get the their connection more consistent, they will be back in town. – Herald Sun journalist, Mark Robinson
In many ways I'm pleased with a lot of the elements of the game, but it was a game that was there for the taking and if we convert some of those set shots in the third quarter it gives us the impetus we were after. – Senior coach Luke Beveridge
Grundy might have taken the points as expected, but there is a reason why the Dogs are so excited about Tim English. The Dogs went coast to coast to slot home their third-straight goal late in the first term, and it all started with an English interception deep in defence. But the 205cm big man didn’t pluck the ball out of the air, he somehow scooped it up off his boot laces on the move, latching on to a rocket-fire Travis Varcoe tap-on. It’s that sort of agility and mobility that have drawn comparisons to West Coast champion Dean Cox who changed the game with his influence around the ground. – Herald Sun journalist, Jay Clark
It was nice to hit the scoreboard a little bit, but obviously I’ll keep going back and working on those things I need to work on. It was positive that we were in the game for most of it… unfortunately we couldn’t get the result. We all have that belief we can match it with the best, and we believe we’re not far off it – returning key forward Josh Schache after kicking three goals
BEVO: LEARNING CURVE FOR ENGLISH
But it wasn't easy. Just when the Pies looked in control of the contest in the second half, the Bulldogs would find a way to strike back. The 13.4 (82) to 10.13 (73) scoreline underpins a tight contest, in one of the Bulldogs' most impressive games of the season, despite the result. – AFL Media journalist, Callum Twomey
