WESTERN Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney has criticised his team's lack of fight in the wake of another second-half collapse, this time against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.
McCartney said the Bulldogs had played "the brand of footy" they aspired to in the first half, but again lamented their inability to maintain their intensity and defensive pressure, which turned an 11-point lead in the second term into a 54-point defeat.
Watch Coach Brendan McCartney and Jordan Roughead's post match press conference in full on the media player above.
"We've been criticised heavily for not scoring enough (and) we were scoring off the back of everyone working together and joining in all areas of the game," he said.
"What we're most disappointed in is, [although] you may have a lot of young people in your team at once and you get fatigue and you get people getting a bit lost and confused, but you've just got to keep fighting and scrapping.
"When you’re doing something well, you just keep doing it and someone will kick the goals. But we just fell away in the areas of the game that we wanted to be really good at - our tackling, our defensive pressure. That's what got us goals in the first half."
McCartney was also disappointed that some players who were winning their positions eventually lowered their colours.
"We had some people on top of their opponents and when (that's the case) you should keep hammering home the advantage," he said.
"When your opponent starts to fight back, you just crack in a little bit harder and make it harder for him.
The coach was adamant his team's fitness wasn't to blame.
"It's not a fitness thing," he said. "The reality is that it's really difficult to do much training during the year. If you ask all of the teams that are primarily made up of young, developing players, they'll all tell you the same thing. It’s an ability to absorb the work and hang in there. It's a maturity thing and a durability thing."
There also could have been more leadership shown towards players having set shots at goal.
"If you've got a young player lining up for a shot at goal, a senior player (should) come over and say, 'Hey, take your time. You're a good player, you’re a good kick. You know your routine. You'll kick this.' And then not be fearful to have the ball in that situation and go 'You beauty, I can do something here'."
The Bulldogs missed Tom Williams across half-forward - he was a late withdrawal with general soreness but should be available next week.
"He trained yesterday and just pulled up a bit sore today," McCartney said. "It's nothing sinister, but he wasn't able to play at full capacity and it doesn’t make sense with Tom's history to put him out there when he's not totally functional."
"We've been criticised heavily for not scoring enough (and) we were scoring off the back of everyone working together and joining in all areas of the game," he said.
"What we're most disappointed in is, [although] you may have a lot of young people in your team at once and you get fatigue and you get people getting a bit lost and confused, but you've just got to keep fighting and scrapping.
"When you’re doing something well, you just keep doing it and someone will kick the goals. But we just fell away in the areas of the game that we wanted to be really good at - our tackling, our defensive pressure. That's what got us goals in the first half."
McCartney was also disappointed that some players who were winning their positions eventually lowered their colours.
"We had some people on top of their opponents and when (that's the case) you should keep hammering home the advantage," he said.
"When your opponent starts to fight back, you just crack in a little bit harder and make it harder for him.
The coach was adamant his team's fitness wasn't to blame.
"It's not a fitness thing," he said. "The reality is that it's really difficult to do much training during the year. If you ask all of the teams that are primarily made up of young, developing players, they'll all tell you the same thing. It’s an ability to absorb the work and hang in there. It's a maturity thing and a durability thing."
There also could have been more leadership shown towards players having set shots at goal.
"If you've got a young player lining up for a shot at goal, a senior player (should) come over and say, 'Hey, take your time. You're a good player, you’re a good kick. You know your routine. You'll kick this.' And then not be fearful to have the ball in that situation and go 'You beauty, I can do something here'."
The Bulldogs missed Tom Williams across half-forward - he was a late withdrawal with general soreness but should be available next week.
"He trained yesterday and just pulled up a bit sore today," McCartney said. "It's nothing sinister, but he wasn't able to play at full capacity and it doesn’t make sense with Tom's history to put him out there when he's not totally functional."
