After overcoming the “shell shock” of a winless first two rounds, Western Bulldogs defender Liam Jones says Luke Beveridge’s males now have a platform from which to construct into the AFL season.
The Bulldogs had been blown away in early thumpings from Melbourne and St Kilda, which got here off the again of final yr’s horror finals exit.
The performances led to fierce exterior criticism, significantly on Beveridge, who was handed a two-year contract extension in December.
But the gritty round-three win over Brisbane has halted the slide forward of a gathering with Richmond on the MCG on Saturday.
“It’s a good place for us to start – to win a really hard and tough game,” Jones informed AAP.
“Our pressure was up and if we can have that as our foundation, then our flair will come off the back of that.
“It was a superb reward for effort as a result of we had a very good pre-season and the primary two rounds had been a little bit of shell shock as a result of we had a zero within the win column.
“That’s a good stepping stone for us now and that’s the baseline performance that we can really build our season on.”
Jones mentioned Beveridge, the Dogs’ 2016 premiership mentor, had stored a cool head throughout a tricky begin to his ninth season on the helm.
“He’s a very level sort of character and in the losses he doesn’t get too low,” Jones mentioned.
“He hasn’t lost belief in us and that’s been great for us to (maintain) belief in ourselves.
“We stayed the course. Obviously we weren’t taking part in the best way we needed so there have been just a few issues he reiterated that we have to work on and we introduced that (towards Brisbane).
“The heat on the ball, the pressure around the ball and a bit of desperation – if we can build off that, I think we’re a really talented team, and the rest of our game will flow from there.”
Jones has returned to bolster the Bulldogs’ back-line this season, making his AFL comeback after retiring on the finish of 2021 due to the league’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage.
The 32-year-old was rushed to hospital for evaluation after a “scary” neck harm in spherical one however was cleared of structural injury and has not missed a sport.
Now, he is centered on settling into the Dogs’ defensive unit alongside fellow tall Alex Keath and remodelled back-man Josh Bruce whereas Ryan Gardner (elbow) is out injured.
“I’ve been trying to fast-track my learning with (assistant coach) Rohan Smith and all the players down there and building chemistry,” Jones mentioned.
“It’s a new mixture down there but I thought we did pretty well (against Brisbane) and had a pretty good summer.
“We’ll proceed to be taught and we’ll be actually good.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
