Coach Luke Beveridge concedes the Western Bulldogs have been outworked throughout their opening two losses as his shattered prices put together to reckon with their brutal begin to the AFL season.
The Bulldogs shipped 9 of the final 10 objectives in Saturday night time’s thumping 14.8 (92) to five.11 (41) loss to St Kilda, which adopted a 50-point defeat to Melbourne.
When pressed on whether or not the Bulldogs’ health was as much as scratch, Beveridge stated he was assured they’d ready for the season strongly however hadn’t been capable of go along with the Demons or Saints.
“Well, I think you’d have to say that the first two rounds we’ve been outworked,” he advised reporters.
“So we’ve had a really solid pre-season but some surprises coming into the year with some boys.
“We’ve bought 11 on the harm record in the mean time – however that is not an excuse, it is simply the best way it’s. You want a deep squad.
“But there’s no doubt that when we compare our output as far as the ground cover and the intensity and the speed of it, we haven’t been up to the level that the first two teams we’ve played have.
“Now that is a mix of issues – it is undoubtedly not as a result of we have not labored onerous sufficient. So it is a troublesome one to analyse however we have simply bought to resist it.”
The Bulldogs face a five-day turnaround before Thursday’s clash with Brisbane, with soul-searching seemingly on the cards as Beveridge indicated he would look to change up his players’ routine.
“We’re simply working via that in the mean time,” he stated.
“It’s not prefer it’s been a giant grind, we’re simply beginning. But I believe there have been some similarities within the first two weeks that we did not see coming.
“So we need to get to round three versus the Lions in absolutely the right headspace.
“We’ll course of that tonight and we’ll discover a type of modern strategy to get to Thursday so we give a greater account of ourselves for the 4 quarters.”
Rory Lobb (ankle) and Adam Treloar (hamstring) were “an opportunity” to return towards Brisbane.
While adamant the primary two rounds “did not lower it”, Beveridge stressed he wouldn’t be cracking down hard on his players
“The essential message, the scientific message is round believing we are able to flip it round shortly and it’s nonetheless solely spherical two so there’s quite a lot of the season left to make a mark and we actually imagine we are able to,” he stated.
“And two: I’ll all the time simply be completely in our gamers’ nook.
“I’m here to support them and I’m their ally, I’m not their gavel.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
