Head coach Nathan Burke says the Western Bulldogs saw an opportunity for player development, rather than going on the defensive, against a powerful Adelaide Crows outfit in Sunday’s AFLW clash.

A seven-goal to two opening half from the Crows ultimately set up their 56-point win, with the Bulldogs forced to chase a 33-point deficit at the main break.

Burke said rather than trying to limit the damage late, he wanted to continue playing positively and expose his young group to the action.

“When you’re that far behind on the scoreboard and it’s looking a little bit ugly, the thing to do might be ‘let’s chuck Izzy Huntington in the backline, or let’s chuck another number back there’, but we really resisted that,” Burke told media post-match.

“We threw the magnets around just to see where players ended up – we put Katie Lynch in the midfield, Bonnie Toogood in the midfield, Gabby Newton in the backline, and Issy Pritchard even ended up in the backline.

“I was really keen not to hide any of our young players; I wanted them to be right where the action was and learn what good, experienced senior players do and how they play the game, and get some of those to teach us as much as beat us.”

Burke said while finals are now a near-impossible chance with one round remaining, the team will be looking to finish their season on a positive note.

“We have a lot of milestones that we try to achieve – the most we’ve ever won in a home-and-away season is five, so we need to win five,” he said.

“5-4 is a winning season, so we work on those milestones. We had eight teenagers in today, so I really want them to finish off the season and play some really, really, really good football.

“We’re not going to play finals unless we win by 180 points and everyone else loses, but I think to cap off a really good season is what we’re after.”

The AFLW Bulldogs will return to VU Whitten Oval on Friday night, taking on Richmond in their final home-and-away game for 2021.