It was a match that in many ways mirrored the Western Bulldogs' season. Hard at the contest early, glimpses of promise and then fading away.

It was a pattern made clear to senior coach Brendan McCartney when he spoke to the media after his side’s 67-point loss to the resurgent Lions.
 
“The disappointment was we fluctuated, the basics of our game fluctuated too much,” he said.
 
“The basics of the game get you through and we didn’t do them well enough or long enough tonight.”
 
The Bulldogs tallied 20 more possessions than their opposition despite conceding the last four-points up for grabs. 
 
However, Coach McCartney said this was a case of the forward line pushing up the ground to help the team defend.
 
“Our forwards got too far up the ground at times and often are too far up the ground at times because they are trying to help the team defend,” he said. 
 
“If you defend well earlier you’re more likely to have your forwards in the forward line and when you kick it in there you get a better representation.
 
“When you get too high you’re kicking into an open forward line one where there’s more of them there, it comes back out the other side and you spend 20 minutes of your life chasing the ball.”
 
The Bulldogs are already looking ahead to the pre-season with a burning desire to improve but a realistic outlook.
 
“We know it’s not going to happen in a minute or even overnight,” McCartney said.
 
“I think it is a chance to refresh a little bit and review what we’ve done well and what we need to do better and then get our teeth into next pre-season,” he said.
 
“I think we’ve got a big core of players who can’t wait to start back training again and get our club better and look better.”