The development of the new breed of Western Bulldogs will take time but Senior Coach Brendan McCartney expects his players to be stronger and attack the game for longer in the back end of the season.
When consistently fielding a young and inexperienced team there will be a drop off in performance as the young bodies tire, according to McCartney - but he is still demanding players hold onto the level of intensity seen in the first half for longer.
“No shying away from the situation, there are parts of our game that we are a little embarrassed about what we are serving up,” McCartney said.
“The reason we are embarrassed is it is there for a quarter or it is there for a half - it is not there for long enough.”
Lining up against a mature St Kilda outfit on Sunday the Bulldogs were serviceable in their output in the first half but after the main change allowed the margin to blow out and could not regain momentum.
A drop off in intensity also saw Carlton run away with the four points the week previous, despite the Bulldogs leading at each of the breaks.
“At some stage we thought we might go into a little bit of a trough having so many young players in the team at once,” he said.
“When you run into teams that are on the up because they are full of mature, developed bodies you can get a bit of a whack.”
Implementing a rotations policy to better manage the young bodies, McCartney said the process had been beneficial for both the short and long term of the Club.
“None of them have had what you call long term injuries, overuse injuries, which means that they are able to keep lifting weights, they are able to keep learning,” McCartney said.
“They are probably feeling the pinch at times in games and we think we have managed most of them really well.
“We have probably played a couple and put too much responsibility on a couple too but I think we will get a long term benefit.”
As well as taking a toll on the developing players, the result of playing such a youthful side has implications for the Bulldogs more seasoned campaigners.
“I think what shouldn’t also be lost is our core of senior players at the top have carried an enormous load of responsibility too, running out every week with thirteen or fourteen young boys in the team,” McCartney said.
Looking to the leadership group to guide and help mould the future of the Bulldogs, Coach McCartney’s outlook is still very positive despite the win - loss record this season.
“We have still got a long way to go and we are going to do it off the back of young people and teach them to play the right way,” he said.
“We are going into battle with a lot of young players every week and we are going to get a good result out of it in time.”
