Not close enough is not good enough for Western Bulldogs, writes Mark Robinson

WESTERN Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney bristled slightly on Wednesday at the suggestion his team was irrelevant or invisible.

AFL Round 11: Western Bulldogs v Fremantle at Etihad Stadium. Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney at qtr time. Pic: Michael Klein. Saturday May 31, 2014.

WESTERN Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney bristled slightly on Wednesday at the suggestion his team was irrelevant or invisible.

He defended his club and their performances, but he has more issues on his plate than perceptions which, it has to be said, run closer to fact than fiction.

McCartney has to start winning games.

Not run close, not be in the game for three and half quarters, not win the contested ball and the tackle count and lose on the scoreboard. They must absolutely shed this tag of being honourable in defeat.

Veteran Bob Murphy hates it.

DOGS FOCUS ON PUTTING WINS ON BOARD

‘WE’RE IMPATIENT TOO’: MCCARTNEY

“I’m not interested in honourable losses, we’ve sort of passed that and looking to move forward,” Murphy said on AFL360 on Tuesday night.

Murphy is frustrated and he’s not alone. Fans are edgy. And the coach, despite his cool public demeanour, is furiously working behind closed doors to turn competitiveness into victories.

“I’m probably not as quiet and easygoing as people think,’’ McCartney said yesterday.

Tom Liberatore needs more support from his Bulldog teammates. Picture: Michael Klein

“We’ve got enough intensity here. There’s plenty of fight here too, don’t worry. There’s plenty of fight in this place.”

They are strange team, the Doggies.

On the surface, they can’t kick goals. They are ranked 15th in points for and even Scragger’s grandson can see they have dysfunctional forward line.

Not enough consistency from Stu Crameri and Liam Jones, who is injured and has been suspended, Tom Campbell is defensively poor, Jake Stringer is learning the caper in defence, Luke Dahlhaus is more mid than forward, Tory Dickson was dropped and was then hurt, Jarrad Grant was injured and ready to return, Tom Williams has been tried and who knows where Ayce Cordy in the plans.

And the decision to continue with Daniel Giansiracusa has not worked, on the field anyhow. He kicked 36 goals in 20 games last year. This year he has eight from nine.

Contested ball was their signature game plan.

They won it 18 times last year and won seven games.

The expectation, the hope, was now that that important cog was in place, the other aspects of footy, such as ball movement and scoring, would be the next improvement.

It hasn’t. Of 10 games this year, the Dogs have won the contested ball just four times — and lost all four games.

In comparison, Geelong is six from six, so is Port Adelaide, while Gold Coast, North Melbourne and Sydney is five from five.

A foundation stone under McCartney has become loose, so much so they are third last in contested ball differential.

Tackling was another foundation stone under McCartney.

The Dogs love stoppages. The Dogs lay half their tackles between the stoppage and the clearance point, which Champion Data tells is 20 per cent of where the game is played.

The other half of their tackle count is made up of where 80 per cent of the game is played, and they are 18th in that area, and one of the reasons why they are the fourth highest in points against.

McCartney has some challenges.

After two years and 10 games, the honeymoon period is well over and fans are looking for results.

“People think we’re not progressing, but we think we are,’’ he said. “We just don’t jump up and down about it and carry on about it.”

He best leave that to other people because he has bigger issues than relevancy to contend with.

Originally published as Not close enough is not good enough for Western Bulldogs, writes Mark Robinson