Hanging in contests a little longer, competing a little harder, adapting to challenges a little better, there’s still a ways to go but the progress of Brendan McCartney’s Bulldogs is tangible.
With three wins from the first eight rounds of 2014, compared to one win at the same point last season, the ladder indicates a distinct improvement.
However it’s what the wins and loss column doesn’t show that is equally compelling.
Before last Saturday’s victory against Melbourne, their previous two matches against Adelaide and Essendon were determined by less than two kicks, while the two losses prior to that against Carlton and North Melbourne the Bulldogs had their opportunities to gain the scoreboard ascendency.
They’re situations that were few and far between in the early stages of 2013, but in the new season chances are being created and increasingly taken, with the gritty win over a much-improved Melbourne under Paul Roos being one of them.
“The evolution of a team is rarely that you win all the time, it’s getting exposed in a certain areas of the game and learning from it,” Brendan McCartney told ABC Grandstand.
“You probably need two thirds of your team to have that composure and experience and actually think their way through… and that’s what a developing team is all about.
“We were much better at adapting [on Saturday], and that helped significantly, [it’s a] good learning [curve] for our boys.”
With the growing maturity of the playing group, the Bulldogs’ brand of ruthless team-defense has created offensive opportunities, and in turn placed them right in the majority of contests that they easily could have been out of.
Keeping opponents honest and being accountable to teammates has been the foundation of the Bulldogs’ growth.
“A fundamental philosophy of mine is if you can’t get the ball and you can’t help the team, you should go back to your man,” McCartney said.
“We were teaching the contest but we’re also working feverishly in other areas, we went down a path, we wanted a blue print of the team.
“Our ball movement and our ability to score I think it’ll be the last piece… it’s still a work in progress and still a fair way off for our best, I think.”
Part of this improvement will be striking the right balance between hand and foot in attack, something McCartney says is currently skewed towards the former method.
“I think once we perfect it, it will be a lethal part of our game, it will be very difficult to stop,” he said.
“But we can overdo it at times, [on Saturday] I thought we got an adjustment to it, and it was led by our senior players who kicked the ball forward and got some yardage.
“Our forwards were able to win some contests and convert - that was probably the most significant thing.”
