Luke Beveridge spoke to the media on Friday night and westernbulldogs.com.au looks at a few of the key takeaways from the press conference.
A lot of effort; little reward
Beveridge said he couldn’t fault the effort of his players on Friday night, but some missed opportunities made things difficult.
“I think all of us as coaches want that desire and application and I don’t think any of our players strayed from that for a minute, so that’s great. But it’s a little bit deflating seeing your opportunities go amiss.
“I thought our backs hold up pretty well after quarter time. We gave them their first two goals from miskicks that were either smothered or intercepted very close to the player and they just got us out the back close to goal.
“So we charged their batteries early on hostile ground and that’s not a good start.”
-
Adjusting to wet weather football
There’s rain, and then there’s the kind of rain that saturated Adelaide on Friday.
“It’s just a different game. We’ve played outside during other games, but the players don’t get to play in heavier conditions that often and so in a tight contest where there is no room to move, the definitely got us from a power and one-on-one perspective, our lads had a go.
“So when you practice and focus on ball movement, how you create your scoring opportunities and how you defend off the back of them and you plan on that for most weeks then you just can’t do it tonight.
“Ultimately the Crows were just too good for us.“
-
Bailey Williams
The 20-year-old defender continued his good run of recent form, picking up another 24 disposals on Friday night, and was again one of the Dogs’ better players.
“Bailey played well. When I mentioned the one on one side of things and winning the footy back and intercepting and being able to drive it back out way, he had a really positive game Bailey.
“He’s a player that is really progressing well.”
-
On where improvement needs to come from
The coach breaks down some of what is going right, and what the Dogs need to work on to get to the next level.
“I think our consistency in parts of the game has been ok but taking your game to a new level, the level we need to get to, is going to involve a real improvement in skill, a capacity to win more one on ones and generally capitalise on the amount of inside 50s we get.
“We’re down the ladder but I think we’re fourth or fifth for the amount of inside 50s that we generate, so we feel like that if we keep persisting then maybe the wheel will turn a little bit. but we need to improve.
“So, how far we are from the better sides, there seems like there’s a bit of a gap at the moment, even though we still believe in ourselves.”
-
Medical Room
The Dogs looked like they’ll head back to Melbourne with a clean bill of health.
“I think we’re ok, the 22 players got through reasonably unscathed so that’s a good sign. We’re back to 36 on the track, and generating a bit more manpower that will hopefully hold us in good stead."
