Assistant Coach Shannon Grant dissects Sunday’s game against St Kilda in the BulldogsTV Weekly Wrap. Watch now on the media player above.

The Positive

Grant believes the clash with St Kilda gave the Bulldogs developing midfielders exposure to playing on one of the quality midfields in the competition in St Kilda. The learning curve for Mitch Wallis, Tom Liberatore and Clay Smith lining up against the likes of Nick Dal Santo, Lenny Hayes and Brendon Goddard is immense and will greatly help them in their development.

Room to improve

The inability of the Bulldogs to put in a four quarter performance against St Kilda allowed the game to break open - resulting in the 76 point defeat. The Saints won the third quarter by 36 points putting the game out of reach despite the Bulldogs putting in a more solid effort in the final term kicking two goals to the Saints four.

Stat that mattered

The tackle count was the stat that mattered according to Grant. The Bulldogs had 51 tackles while St Kilda ended with 77. In the final quarter alone the Dogs managed five tackles to the Saints 10. Grant believes the difference between the two teams results from the Bulldogs not working hard enough in and around the ball and not putting enough pressure on the Saints with their second and third efforts.

Player of the day

Grant has appointed veteran defender Bob Murphy as the Bulldogs player of the match for his fantastic job on St Kilda’s Stephen Milne. Murphy restricted the Saints playmaker to just one goal, three behinds and eleven possessions while collecting 19 disposals, eight marks, four inside 50s and three rebound 50m. This greatly contrasts Milne’s output in the three rounds previous where he was averaging four goals per game.