Small lapses in concentration and performance have masked a number of otherwise competitive outings from the Western Bulldogs this season, Senior Coach Brendan McCartney says.
Claiming the Bulldogs were closer to producing better results than many thought, McCartney said it was small periods of not setting up the ground correctly which allowed direct opponents to take hold of the game.
“[The players] got a pretty solid reminder that they are actually closer to getting some good results than they realise, [except for] little patches per quarter or a ten minute patch in the third quarter through the last three or four weeks,” McCartney said.
“[We are] very competitive in a lot of areas but we can’t afford to have those patches, so they are closer than they think.”
Five unanswered goals late in the third term to the Gold Coast Suns was a prime example of where McCartney’s men paid a price for not executing the team’s plan.
“We know we didn’t have a great five minutes in the box in the third quarter,” he said.
“We probably didn’t have a great five minutes communicating out on the ground to one another through the runners and player to player and we didn’t have a great five minutes as a playing group and it was really costly.
“We understand what happened in that little patch but it probably shouldn’t have been as costly because we should have been able to play much, much better in the first half with our opportunities.”
McCartney said the team have identified and accepted areas in which they need to improve, and will work hard to getter better each day.
“We don’t ever shy away from confronting the reality of where we are at and we have no loss of vision of where we are going.”
McCartney said St Kilda posed as a good test for the developing Bulldogs side, as both Clubs look to develop a large group of young players on their respective lists.
“They’ve probably got some frustrations similar to us at times, where they have patches in games where they either don’t take their chances or the opposition get them on the scoreboard for five minutes,” he said.
“I think it will be a very, very competitive game, there’s good history between the two clubs in the last four or five years.
“To be honest both clubs are probably at an identical stage in they’re reintroducing up to 10 or 12 youngsters into their senior team.”
While a number of young pups are making a play for senior selection at VFL level, as well as the pending return of Tom Williams who was named as an emergency last week, McCartney said he would not be making wholesale changes.
“There’s three or four that have built some good form… there may be a couple of changes but there won’t be wholesale changes,” he said.
Putting faith in his current young stable, McCartney said if the Bulldogs can play better for longer, then Saturday’s clash is well within reach.
“If we play the right way and handle how St Kilda want to play and still back our players in to be confident with the ball… we will play some good football,” he said.
