Western Bulldogs AFLW head coach Nathan Burke says his side will take inspiration from Collingwood’s season-opening win when attempting to shut down Carlton on Friday night.
Burke’s Bulldogs will host the Blues at VU Whitten Oval in the inaugural Pride Round opener, with both teams to enter the match off the back of narrow round one losses.
Burke revealed he was even sitting in front of a laptop reviewing Carlton’s last game minutes before jumping on air on 3AW Sportsday during the week.
“We know Carlton pride themselves on being really hard at the footy and moving it quickly, but Collingwood two years in a row have managed to counter that, and then spread away from that contest really well,” Burke told Gerard Healy and Sam McClure.
“Collingwood’s midfield group are one of the best in the league, and they performed really, really well last weekend.
“That’s a model we’ll endeavour to follow – whether we can actually follow it as well as Collingwood’s midfield did we’ll have to wait and see.”
The second-year coach is expecting yet another increase in standards across the competition in weeks to come, as the players reacquaint themselves with the game after an extra long lay-off.
“I was a little unsure as to how the first couple of rounds would play out, primarily because of the fact that these players have played one game in 11 months.
“You can run around and do match simulations at training but that’s nothing like getting out there in the battle and playing in front of a crowd and television.
“I thought (Round 1) might have been scratchier than what it was to be totally honest – I’ve been really happy with the standard of the game and the skills of the game considering what the players had gone through to get to this point.”
The Pride games were invented to celebrate and support the LGBTIQA+ community, and to create a safe space for people to express themselves and be accepted for who they are.
This year will be the first competition-wide Pride Round, with five teams also wearing specially-designed guernseys.
