Luke Beveridge spoke to the media following the Club’s two-point loss to North Melbourne on Saturday night and westernbulldogs.com.au have listed the three key takeaways
The story of the night
A disappointed Luke Beveridge breaks down the Dogs’ heart breaking two point loss to North Melbourne.
“We fell apart structurally in the last two minutes after we kicked out last goal, so it’s frustrating, it’s more than frustrating, it’s extremely disappointing.
“We got ourselves into a position to win it, and that’s a positive sign, but we couldn’t sustain what we’d done with the ball in the first half.
“They started to get on top of us in that third quarter through the midfield, just some stronger bodies we couldn’t hold in tackles, (and) put our defence under pressure all over again.
“So we can say that over time as we roll we’ll be able to sustain it for longer but we can’t give ourselves an out because we believe we should have won the game, but woulda, coulda, shoulda, it’s a pretty disappointing outcome.”
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The last two minutes
The Dogs had snatched back the lead with two minutes remaining before North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell kicked the winning goal with 20 seconds on the clock.
“We’ve just reviewed it, we’ve just had a look at it, and there were about twelve things in it, mostly from experience players, that weren’t good enough. We should have been able to contain it.
“The lack of urgency under fatigue was disappointing. Obviously, we’ve already reviewed it so hopefully the boys are in there probably stewing over it a little bit and making a promise to each other that it doesn’t happen again if we’re in that situation.
“We walk away from tonight, and we’ve used the word deflated before, but that’s sucked the air out of us, no doubt.”
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The positives
While the loss was disappointing, Beveridge said there were more than a few positives to take out of the night.
“There was a lot about tonight’s game that we liked, especially the way we moved the footy at times and gave ourselves opportunities.
“We had different combinations through out midfield which we’re searching for, obviously we played Aaron Naughton and Zaine Cordy forward of the ball and they looked ok, and more experience for Ed Richards and Pat Lipinski on the wings.
“Ultimately as a group we got ourselves to a point where we can win the game and I don’t want our boys to walk away from tonight thinking, ‘that was good, we almost go there’, all that was good and we should have got there.
“So I suppose we walked away after that little discussion probably understanding that next time we’re in that situation, in the memory banks, and the reminder of what we didn’t do so well is there and we’ll get it right.”
