Ryan Griffen is a near certainty to lead the Western Bulldogs in Sunday’s home opener against North Melbourne, with Senior Coach Brendan McCartney adamant the All Australian midfielder will play.
Absent for the NAB Challenge and last week’s round one away loss to West Coast, Griffen is set to return after being sidelined for the start of the 2014 season with back soreness.
“He has to train today, which we’re confident he’ll get through, and all being well he’ll play,” McCartney said
“It will be good to have him back.”
Eager to return to the field, Griffen is desperate to lead his team for the first time since being awarded the captaincy in December last year.
McCartney revealed that watching the Eagles loss from the sidelines was tough for his star midfielder.
“I think missing last week as his first game as a captain, he felt it,“ he said
“[Ryan] said he felt it even more so, because he wanted to be out there to help his teammates. It’ll be good to have him back, and he’s really excited about playing
“It’s probably a good reminder that they actually love playing the game, and when you can’t play because of injury and different reasons you do miss it.”
While Griffen is set to return, McCartney also mooted further changes at the selection table as the Bulldogs senior coach looks to select a side that best matches up to North Melbourne
“We’ve got to weigh up how tall we go, look at them a bit more, [we’ll probably make] two or three changes.”
Although pundits have made much of North Melbourne’s need to bounce back after their loss to Essendon, McCartney’s focus solely sits on ensuring his side bounce back to their ruthless, contested-ball roots after having their colours lowered around the contest by the Eagles.
“We think this weekend is really important to us, we don’t care too much about North Melbourne, it’s about how we play, and play Bulldogs footy and play the way we want to play.”
McCartney added Griffen’s return would be important for his young side, but it’s the responsibility of the full 22 named to play their role.
“[Ryan’s] such a powerful presence when we have possession of the ball, but good teams don’t rely on one or two,”
“If you’re in a team and it’s time to attack well everyone’s got to join in that, it cant be just a couple of people,”
“Everyone’s got to defend, and everyone’s got to win the ball,”
“That’s always been our focus here and that’s what we’ve pushed heavily again this week.”
