westernbulldogs.com.au extracts the key takeaways and talking points to emerge from Senior Coach Luke Beveridge's press conference on Saturday after the Bulldogs' win over St Kilda.
What happened after quarter time?
The Dogs were goalless in the first term but kicked 15 of the next 20 goals to run out 35-point winners. Beveridge discussed the turnaround.
“It was just a matter of staying composed, sticking to pre-match plans, and not throwing the baby out with the bath water, so we had a good conversation at quarter time around all of that.
“To our players’ credit, obviously we’ve been under a little bit of duress around consistently playing the four quarters, I don’t think it was intent that cost us, it was more the method, some of the Saints’ good play and I don’t think we’ve had a third quarter like that for a long time, so that was nice.”
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JJ’s ‘ridiculously’ good game
Beveridge reflected on Jason Johannisen’s career-high 42 touch performance after a quiet showing against the Power last weekend.
“We played him in a difficult position last week.
“Obviously it was wet and windy in Ballarat and we didn’t have a lot of speed in our forward line and we needed him to play a role. They obviously tagged him, and even when we took him back they followed that through.
“It’s pretty easy to sit on a running defender or a smaller forward that’s not getting supply. His best position is probably that high running back and he can play on the wing.
“We keep trying to get it right for him but he needs help and tonight was just a ridiculously good game from him. His speed was next level.“
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Roarke Smith
After a recent car accident and leaving the game early on Saturday night, it hasn’t been the best fortnight for the promising young defender.
“He’s alright, but the docs pulled him out with concussion again.
“With the car crash he had a cut on his head but we’ll need to be really careful with him now.”
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What does the win mean?
The Dogs have endured a tough year and the coach spoke about what Saturday night’s win meant to the Club.
“It’s important for our fans and members that they can see some promise in the youngsters and they can see that some of boys that have maybe missed some footy have still got a fair bit in them.
“It’s just good for the players. They’ve had a difficult two years, and seeing mates retire and mates have serious neck injuries, it can be traumatic, so there’s a steely resolve with them tonight, and there has been in recent times.
“So hopefully we can chalk up one or two or maybe even three more in the last few and finish off on a really solid note. That’ll give us some steam to think about for next year.”
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Josh Schache
With another three goals to his name, Josh Schache continues to show promise.
“He’s a player that has got good forward craft. He’s played there a lot in his junior days and some of it comes quite natural.
“But he’s doing some really meaningful work with Ash Hansen and some of our other coaches in some of the fundamentals.
“He’s a great listener and wants to improve all of the time and as his body develops and as he gets stronger there’s some real promise there with Schach.”
