The Footscray Bulldogs were beaten by Geelong by 32 points in a VFL practice match on Saturday but Development Manager Chris Maple says the margin doesn’t truly reflect how even the contest was.
“I thought it was a very even game, the stats tell us it was a lot closer than [32 points],” Maple said.
“Both teams effectively had the same amount of inside 50s, the same amount of scoring shots – they used the ball a little bit better around the goals which helps.
“We did really well with our clearances and defended ok at times, other times we didn’t and they are the times that hurt us, they are the things we are going to have to look at.”
Sharing duties between the ruck and forward line Ayce Cordy and Tom Campbell were near identical across the stats sheet and should both take confidence from the performance.
“I don’t think that the Geelong boys had a recognised ruckman, so they dominated the hitouts as you’d expect and took some marks around the ground, as you’d expect,” he said.
“They dominated and they should have.
“Both Campbell and Cordy also kicked a couple of goals.”
First round draft pick Marcus Bontempelli was another to impress Maple, after a string of promising games in Bulldogs colours so far while Greenwood and Lower continued their strong pre-season campaigns.
“We were really happy with Bontempelli, he had a good game and we thought some of his work around the clearances was really strong,” he said.
“Alex Greenwood was a good contributor once again and Nick Lower was a strong inside player.”
Maple said his VFL team had created a good foundation over the pre-season to now increase and build on, as they look to their first game of season proper against Richmond on Saturday.
“I thought we were competitive and we have got some things to build on,” he said.
“We will score more if we defend better. If we can keep defending well and pressuring the opposition and get the ball back off them we will be happy.”
Geelong Cats 16. 9 (105) defeated Footscray Bulldogs 10. 13 (73)
Goals: Cordy 2, Campbell 2, Perkins 2, Finco 1, Honeychurch 1, Lower 1, Tutt 1
Best: Lower, Bontempelli, Greenwood, Cordy, Campbell
