Luke Beveridge addressed the media after his side’s 51-point loss to the Eagles on Sunday, and westernbulldogs.com.au lists the four key takeaways.
1. The energy gap
The Dogs had good passages throughout the match, but Beveridge said he’d like to see a more consistent application of energy across the game.
“The energy wasn’t consistent enough. And I think the hunger’s there. You can’t ever question that the boys aren’t trying, but unfortunately there’s a discrepancy between what we do and what other teams are doing.
“History’s history. This is a new side that we’re trying to instil that in, and make sure that everyone is aware that it’s a really important ingredient in a side that wants to climb the ladder. And it’s not there, and the boys know that.
“It’s up to all of us to pursue it and take steps week to week to make sure we’re on the right track.”
2. And turnovers killed us
The game was effectively ended in the second term when the Eagles kick six unanswered goals, and ultimately, the Dogs’ inability to stem the bleeding could be traced back to turnovers.
“We did lots of things (to halt their momentum) but because of the blatant turnovers and the cough-ups in close, it kind of doesn’t matter what you do, because you’ve got defensive layers, you’ve got teammates running, and it all falls apart if you give the ball back to someone when you’ve got no layers behind it, or it just spits out when you’re in a good transition, and again you can’t anticipate that turnover.
“So, it didn’t matter what we tried in the end - I think we only had three forwards to stop that - they had significant forward momentum and that was the last straw in the quarter to try and make sure they didn’t get their seventh.
“We just talked about the full length of the quarter, around concentration and application, it just went off the reservation… it’s good that we got it back on track just a little bit but not good enough.”
3. 2016 is history
Asked if it was time to stop looking at the Dogs through the prism of the 2016 premiership, Beveridge agreed that for a variety of reasons they are two different teams, but he also said that that’s not to mean the current team can’t have their own impact.
“It does seem like a lifetime ago. You can’t really establish yourself as a unified team until you start winning together, until you start doing all the things that’ll get you to the line.
“There’s only 11 left in today’s team, and that’s for many reasons. It’s injury, it’s players not being able to find their best again, boys who have had interrupted preparations who may come into the side over the next couple of weeks, and our willingness to play young players who are showing a bit because we think they’ve got a bright future.
“You’re talking about two different sides now.
“But that doesn’t mean we absolve ourselves of what we want to do this year. It’s two rounds in, and we’ll go into this week’s game thinking we can beat Essendon.”
4. Wallis and Dickson will come into consideration for next week
While acknowledging that it’s early to be making team selection calls, Beveridge did say that the pair’s strong VFL form will bring them into consideration for next week.
“Mitch was pretty good yesterday (in the VFL), he had really good first three quarters and kicked some goals as well.
“He and Tory Dickson played pretty well, so we’ll consider them this week, but it’s a bit early, we’re still trying to process this one”.
