Friday night’s encounter with Hawthorn showed signs that the Western Bulldogs’ forward line is becoming a more cohesive and better functioning unit.
Second year forward Tory Dickson said with ten goal contributors across the group, the win came off the back of a real team effort.
“It all came off team defence… we opened the ground up and it was a lot easier for the forwards to get into clear running space,” Dickson said.
“An even contribution from the whole team – it is all about the team – we came in with the game plan to clear space, it doesn’t matter who kicks the goals just as long as the team performs well and we did that tonight.”
The Bulldogs’ forwards have made a conscious effort to build chemistry among the group over the pre-season, with the personnel shift of Robert Murphy pushing forward also benefitting the team dynamic.
“The forwards have worked really hard this year on chemistry and fitness, just leading patterns and communication,” he said.
“It did pay off today, the big guys were fantastic, they marked the ball and brought it to ground when they didn’t mark the ball.
“Obviously Murphy is a fantastic player and he is always going to create - we are all gelling a little bit better and only time can tell I guess.”
The 25-year-old forward played an integral role in the one point victory with eight tackles, one goal and a goal assist to his name.
Priding himself on his tackling pressure and defensive nous, Dickson said he would continue to keep the opposition accountable in the Bulldogs’ forward line as part of his role in making the Bulldogs a hard team to play against.
“I guess I come into the game priding myself on defensive pressure and that is what is going to keep me in the team, so [have] to do as much tackling as I can,” he said.
“It was a goal for us to be hard to play against late in quarters and I think we did that tonight.”
While season proper is still a number of weeks away, Dickson is hopeful the team can take confidence out of Friday night’s dual – especially their ability to fight back late in quarters.
“Obviously they [Hawthorn] are a very good outfit, I guess you can’t look too much into it because it is a pre-season game but we will take a bit of confidence going into our next game and hopefully keep our form,” he said.
