Luke Beveridge addressed the media following his team's win over Brisbane, and westernbulldogs.com.au lists the five key takeaways from his press conference.
The wrap
The final margin was 14 points but the Dogs couldn’t quite shake the visitors until somewhere near the end, although their work on cashing in on Brisbane’s turnovers had a big say in shaping the outcome.
“They’re a pretty good side when you consider their scoring power and some of their prolific midfielders, and (Lions coach Chris Fagan) has got them playing a really threatening brand.
“I thought we did really well to be four goals up at different stages and we manufactured some goals from contest.
“I thought our contest and our hardness around the footy was first-rate. I’m really pleased. I think both sides showed the ball to the opposition on some of those kicks across the ground at times, and I think we kicked 7.3 from forward half turnover, which we’re pretty happy with, because we’ve been getting a bit of forward half turnover but just not capitalising on it, so it was nice to get some result there.”
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Macrae’s record-equalling night
Jack Macrae’s 47 possessions equalled Ryan Griffen’s 2012 record for the most ever possessions by a Bulldog in a game, but Beveridge said the benefits of Macrae’s current form can be measured beyond the stats sheet.
“I just said to him and his teammates that now he becomes a pretty big headache for the opposition.
“We were a bit surprised, we didn’t necessarily think Beams would go to him but for him to be so prolific with possession in the first half, they needed to make some adjustments and everyone benefits because it puts the opposition on edge.
“He’s working extremely hard and learnt through stealth how to manage a tag or two, and for him to accumulate like that, he becomes important as long as he continues to use the ball well for us.“
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Naughton injury update
The first year defender looked to have badly rolled his ankle late in the first quarter. Here, Beveridge gave an early assessment on it’s severity.
“The docs just said that they’re hoping it might not be too long.
“They said they think he’s strained those lateral ligaments, so it’s too early to tell. They’ll obviously scan it and we’ll give you an update as soon as possible, but hopefully, some of those ankles can be a quick turnarounds.
“He’s never had one before so hopefully it’s not too long.”
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The present and future ruck division
Tom Boyd was the sole recognised ruckman in the team on Saturday night, and got through with some help from Josh Dunkley, although Beveridge foreshadowed a different look when the team faces Adelaide next Friday night.
“I pulled all the ruck/forward type players in during the week and a I said, ‘there’s a spot there.’
“Roughy’s missed a bit of footy and Jackson Trengove has missed a little bit and is working on his match fitness. Tommy Cambpell’s playing alright and Tim English has got to recalibrate; he’s learning to play at the highest levels.
“Tommy Boyd was brilliant at the end (on Saturday). We wanted him to stay on the ball for most of that last quarter, which he did. I wasn’t over the moon with Stef Martin starting to flick it around and spike the ball at centre bounce, we looked pretty vulnerable when that happened.
But our mids did a good job in making the adjustments, but we just didn’t feel like that our other ruck/forwards were ready to play yet at the level and really influence the game. We don’t want to bring them in to just go through the motions and get match fitness, we want them to be in a our best six players.
We’ll consider that this week obviously with (Sam) Jacobs and (Josh) Jenkins, or whoever they’ve got playing second ruck, but it’s a fair chance it won’t be Dunks.
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On where the team is at
Beveridge was asked whether at 4-4, the team is where he thought it would be, and how far off they might be from playing their best football.
“To tell you the truth, I’m uncertain. It doesn’t bother me, but I don’t think people can shake themselves out of comparing this team to the team that played two years ago. It’s virtually a totally different team.
“What happened in ’16 is relevant because it’s an important part of our history and there’s still lessons that we’ve learnt from being able to stick together in tough times and what it means to win together and we’re starting to feel that a little bit now.
“I’m uncertain as to what we can do and keeping an open mind is critical. As I’ve said, when I’m giving any sort of commentary, I always believe we can win. We’ll go to Adelaide thinking we can beat Adelaide, but your question around, ‘are we satisfied, is this the path we envisage we’d be on’, not really .
“And the big losses still grate on you, no matter what the reason are, you never like to be poleaxed like we were in three of the games this year. But apart from those three losses and the narrow one to Sydney, the other four games have been really encouraging.“
