WESTERN Bulldog ball magnet Daniel Cross hopes lessons learned from last year will spur the Bulldogs to greater heights in the wake of a memorable three-point win over
Cross, who had 25 possessions in the midfield to help sink the Crows, said coach Rodney Eade was quick to point out the past to his players post game.
“We had a good win against the eventual premiers in round one last year and then it all started to unravel a bit from there,” he said.
“Every side is just as good as the other and each week you’ve just got to come to play.
“That’s something we have to work on because we can’t be hot and cold every second week. We have to roll up every week and turn it on consistently.”
The 25-year-old described the win over the Crows as huge for a playing group desperately wanting to win for 300-gamer Brad Johnson.
Cross said words could not describe the effort of Johnson to kick the team’s final three goals of the match and seal victory.
“Two words - Brad Johnson,” he said of his teammate.
“He’s an absolute freak.”
Cross rated the win as important not only to honour Johnson but to help rebuild the spirit and character at the club.
After recording seven losses and a draw to round out a bitterly disappointing 2007, the consistent ball winner said the players had worked hard on improving their mental toughness over summer.
It kicked in midway through the third term when the Dogs were trailing by 20 points after having led by four goals early in the match.
“They’re the emotions that you get tested with in every quarter of the game and it showed great character from us to be able to work through that, hang tough, then somehow grab a win,” he said.
“We’ve got a really strong group mentally now and we’ve worked on that over pre-season. Sometimes in the past we’d roll over in those close games, but not today.”
Cross said a mindset of gnawing away at the opposition proved a decisive factor.
“We realised you just had to chip away at them because they are a great defensive side,” he said.
“We had to use our assets and run the ball quickly and we did that.”
While Johnson was the star of the show, a seven-goal contribution from Daniel Giansiracusa and former Crow Scott Welsh proved critical.
Giansiracusa kicked three goals and had 24 possessions while Welsh kicked four goals in his first game for the Dogs.
“For Gia to come out after one only game for Williamstown last week and play like he did was a fantastic effort and Welshy was great as well,” Cross said.
“A couple of individual efforts by them really made the difference.”
The Bulldogs tackle
