Courage from an injured Lin Jong, composure from Tory Dickson, desperation from match-winner Easton Wood and a perfectly-timed kick from Nathan Hrovat.
They were the key moments in the dying minutes of the Western Bulldogs match against the Swans that led to a four-point victory.
According to Dogs midfielder Clay Smith, it’s repeated efforts like those across the first five games that have led to the Club’s 4-1 start to the season.
“The little things don’t go unnoticed, they get rewarded in house,” said Smith, speaking with Croc Media’s Sportsday Radio on Monday.
“They’re the things that come up in the review, the chases or the smothers or the pressure out of a contest situation that helps the backs out, they don’t go unnoticed.”
The Bulldogs are third in the competition for one-percenters, and have had consistent contributors in that area in all five rounds.
Smith says it was a focus of the Club during the off-season that they can now enjoy the rewards of.
“It’s one of the things that we worked on over the summer, really getting our fitness right and then working on our team defence and the way that we’ve been setting up, it’s more about helping each other out and doing it as a team.”
While the reward for effort was significant on the weekend, with the Dogs beating last year’s grand finalists, Smith says the hard work must continue.
“Everyone was ecstatic, obviously you could see the feeling out on the ground and everyone showed that and how much it meant and how hard we’ve been working as a group.
“Just to get a win like that, it just shows that some of the work’s paid off, we’ve still got a long way to go but it’s a big tick for us.”
