WESTERN Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney has admitted to being "embarrassed" by his team's recent performances.
After winning five of their opening 11 games, the Bulldogs have lost their past six by an average margin of 58 points to slump to 15th place on the AFL ladder with a percentage of just over 72.
Watch Coach McCartney's press conference in full on the media player above.
And it hasn’t simply been the defeats that have caused concern at Whitten Oval, but the manner in which they have capitulated.
"We're not doing cartwheels about our performances in the last six weeks," McCartney said at Bulldogs headquarters on Tuesday.
"But there's no point being 'woe is me'. We've got to keep working at things that we're no good at."
Asked if the Dogs' plight was worse than he had envisioned, McCartney was adamant that it was not, because a slump of sorts had been forecast.
"That's an alarmist question - no," he said.
"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. 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.
"But no shying away from the situation, there are parts of our game that we're a little embarrassed about. The reason we're embarrassed [is] it’s there for a quarter or it's there for a half, but it’s not there for long enough or strong enough.
"I don’t like losing and I don’t like getting beaten by 70 points. And I don't like seeing players disappointed, and I don't like seeing our supporters as disappointed as they are. But there's a long way to go and we'll do it on the back of young people and teaching them to play the right way."
McCartney said that in the 76-point loss to St Kilda on Sunday, some of his players had been "a bit safe" with the ball and hadn't been prepared to "take the game on" for fear of making mistakes.
But he was pleased with the upbeat vibe at training.
"People learn better in an urgent atmosphere that's professional but still got a little relaxation about it. It can’t be a prison camp here. There's still got to be an element of humanness," he said.
The Bulldogs could learn from the example of their opponent on Saturday, North Melbourne, which McCartney said was benefiting from several seasons of good drafting, player development and coaching.
One young Dog who appears set to make an impact is South African-born livewire Jason Johannisen, the elevated rookie who McCartney said will make his AFL debut in the next fortnight.
"He's in the mix to play [on Saturday] … If it's not this week it'll certainly be the next week after that," he said.
"He's been a good story. His career really kicked on at this club when we put the right people around him. He jumped on board with some really good influences in the playing group and attached himself to some exceptional development coaches that we have here.
"That's a good sign that if you have the right program and do it for long enough good kids emerge and turn into really good players.
"I think our supporters are going to see a young kid play who physically has a lot of developing to do to get the body size that we need, but he's got attributes that the game requires and he will add to our team."
Of veteran Daniel Cross - who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the loss to St Kilda - McCartney said: "We love him and respect him so much here. He'll be back."
