Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge spoke to the media post-game...
Q: Back in front of your home deck in front of your home fans, how disappointing is it to dish up the first five goals in the circumstances?
A: Extremely disappointed, as you would expect. The players felt like they built themselves up for the game and ultimately, they walk through the corridor at the moment and through the rooms, the players are shattered. We realise we haven’t started the year as our supporters would expect. Playing below our own expectations. Which is quite obvious. What can I say, disappointing.
Q: Have you identified defence and the use of the ball going forward, would you put tonight going down to?
A: They got impetus out of the centre bounce early and that is important for momentum. When you come in with a single-mindedness to get out of the blocks and straight away you put yourself on the back foot, there was no fluidity in the way we used the ball. I felt our backs held up for the large portion of that first half. Until the dam wall broke in that third quarter unfortunately. We were relying on them to intercept a lot. There are some challenges there through the lines. We need to attack them and troubleshoot and problem solve. And believe that we can turn it around quickly.
Q: What is your message to the players, is it wrap your arms around them or more of a stick?
A: The main message, the clinical message is around what I said, believing we can turn it around quickly. It is still only round two so there is a lot of the season left. To make a mark. We really believe we can. That is one. I will always be totally in our players’ corner, I am here to support them, I am their ally and not be their gavel. We analyse and look at performance but ultimately, my drive is always to pick them up and pursue the improvements and the development in them. At the moment, we are down on growth. And unexpectedly, that is for everyone. We can’t scratch our heads, all we can do is go to solutions and work on things through training. They are a really close group so they feel like they are letting each other down as much as our great supporters. They are absolutely turning their mind to being better teammates and us being a better team. We will facilitate that and look to bring it against Brisbane.
Q: Does that mean they will turn their mind to being better teammates, is that players going into their shell when things aren’t working? When things are going your way sometimes players do that, is that what’s happening? Or is it a whole across-the-board need to lift in certain areas?
A: I said to them at half-time, you internalise and feel like the whole world is crumbling on you when you have a first quarter like that but then to peg our way back and give ourselves a look at half-time, it was a really good sign. So you hang your hat on the positive and beyond that, there is an element of probably not playing with the freedom and maybe clamming up a little bit. We need to work with the boys and find the clean air on it to help us play with, I suppose, the influence that we believe we can. But credit to St Kilda, they as much as we believe we can definitely deliver a better performance, as you saw tonight, the Saints’ pressure game and their intensity levels never really wavered and they had a really good start to the year. Aspirational as I have said over the last short period, you come in with a belief that you can be there. So we don’t waver from that but we obviously know that the first two weeks doesn’t cut it. So we need to, as I said, make sure we implement and find the growth really quickly.
Q: One goal in the second half, is fitness an issue?
A: I think you have to say the first two rounds we have been outworked. We have had a really solid pre-season, some surprises coming in with one or two boys, we have 11 on the
injury list at the moment but that’s not an excuse, it is the way it is. You need a deep squad. There is no doubt that when we compare our output as far as the ground cover and intensity and speed of it, we haven’t been up to the level of the first two teams we have played have. That is a combination of things, definitely not that we haven’t worked hard enough. It is a difficult one to analyse but we have got to face up to it.
Q: Any chance to get Rory Lobb or Adam Treloar back for the Lions in five days?
A: It’s a possibility. We will wait and see. It is a short week for us and we need to freshen up quickly, five days. That is a chance.
Q: Between now and then, do you try anything different or is it all systems go with the short break? Do you get the group together and circle up or try anything out of the ordinary?
A: We will but we are working through that at the moment. It’s not like there’s been a big grind, we are just starting. I think there were some similarities in the first two weeks, we didn’t see coming. We need to get to round three versus Brisbane in absolutely the right headspace. We will process that tonight and find an innovative way to get to Thursday so we give a better account of ourselves for the four quarters.
