THE Western Bulldogs' ability to bounce back after a poor first half in a game away from home made its 22-point win over Gold Coast "a pretty significant night for the football club", coach Luke Beveridge says.
The Bulldogs were jumped by Gold Coast in the opening term at Cazaly's Stadium in Cairns on Saturday, with the Suns piling on five goals to one as they made the most of a reasonable tailwind.
The Dogs had cut that margin back to 18 points by half-time but trailed by 37 points at the 11-minute mark of the third term after the Suns kicked the opening three goals of the second half.
The Bulldogs seized control of general play from there and had the final six scoring shots of the term. Unfortunately, there was just one goal among them as they kicked a wayward 1.6 for the quarter.
Beveridge told reporters after the match that he had been worried at three-quarter-time that his team had fired its best shot.
He couldn't have been more wrong, because the Dogs slammed on an astonishing 10.2 for the final term to turn a 26-point deficit into a 22-point win.
"Out of a really ordinary opening we turned it into a pretty significant night for the football club and for our team," Beveridge said.
"You can only heap praise on our players for the way they stayed in the game and found a way under duress in a warmer climate when maybe we should be the ones dropping away at the end of the game.
"It's an outstanding effort."
Saturday's game in Cairns was a 'home' game for the Bulldogs, but Beveridge says his young team's ability to win away from Melbourne again was another step in its development.
"The interstate sides who are a little bit more mature [travel] pretty well and there's no doubt that the more mature Melbourne sides see it as an opportunity to go away and galvanise, and we do (too)," Beveridge said.
"We're young but it's an important time to spend with each other away from Melbourne and really steel yourselves against someone who's playing in their home state.
"It's a little one in the memory banks for next time.
"We've had a couple of good ones. We beat the Sydney Swans up there and this one's obviously really important."
