Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says the Dogs gained’t “fret” over one other irritating shut loss and denied there was any complacency amongst his gamers forward of an important fortnight for his or her finals probabilities.
The Bulldogs will once more be with out line-breaking defender Jason Johannisen once they face the Eagles at Marvel Stadium on Sunday and might want to win that sport in addition to their spherical 24 conflict away to Geelong to make certain of a finals berth.
Johannisen (calf) didn’t take part in full coaching at Whitten Oval on Thursday and can also be in some doubt to face the Cats the week after, however Beveridge mentioned he hoped Tom Liberatore can be accessible as he sits out the West Coast conflict attributable to concussion.
A win over the Eagles this week appears extra achievable than taking down the Cats in Geelong, a feat not achieved by the Bulldogs since 2003, with six losses from six journeys down the freeway since Beveridge took over, a truth he’s nicely conscious of.
“We need to do something that we haven’t done in my time as coach and beat Geelong in Geelong to definitely play finals,” he mentioned on Thursday with the Bulldogs hanging on to eighth spot on the ladder.
“It’s still in our hands, and we can’t fret over what’s just happened … we just need to take care of what we can influence and control now.”
Small Anthony Scott has left the concussion protocols and is free to face the Eagles, with the strain on following final week’s upset loss to Hawthorn in Launceston.
It was the Bulldogs’ fourth loss in 5 video games this season determined by lower than 10 factors, with the defeats to fellow contenders Sydney and GWS within the final month essentially the most damaging to their ladder place.
“We’ve lost a lot of close games in recent times, haven’t we? And we haven’t been able to beat teams … Brisbane are the only team we’ve beaten who have been higher on the ladder,” Beveridge mentioned.
“I’m not an excuse maker as a coach and I never will be – there’s always reasons, we haven’t been able to deal with losing key position players in games through injury, and we haven’t been able to buffer that with enough run and completion of the game.”
Beveridge mentioned a drop away in tackling strain in opposition to the Hawks was accountable for the loss however didn’t suppose the pattern was attributable to complacency with the Dogs’ comparatively protected ladder place getting into the match.
“Complacent is something that we can’t afford to be, but there’s no doubt there’s some individuals who jumped on the plane coming out of Launceston and knew that the difference between their very best and what the boys showed was nowhere near what it needed to be,” he mentioned.
Beveridge mentioned Liberatore, who’s having fun with a career-best season and has been a significant cog within the Bulldogs’ midfield, was “on track” to play in opposition to Geelong in spherical 24.
“He’s feeling a lot better. We’ll wait and see, but we’re hoping he might be available for the last round, Beveridge said.
“(Johannisen) will need to jump through some hoops to be available for that last game, he definitely won’t play this week.”
Originally printed as Bulldogs not complacent about finals as crunch video games loom
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
