Dale Morris admits Western Bulldogs still searching for answers but isn’t writing off their season

DALE Morris rejects suggestions the Western Bulldogs are content with winning last year’s premiership but concedes there have been signs their season was in trouble.

Dale Morris can’t stop Eddie Betts from getting a kick away. Picture: Getty Images

AN “intense and raw” meeting followed the Western Bulldogs’ 59-point loss to Adelaide on Friday night.

And it’s “application” that the reigning flag-winners are lacking, according to premiership defender Dale Morris.

The 2016 flag-winners were comprehensively defeated in Adelaide last night, but Morris is adamant that the group still has the spirit that took it to the premiership.

VIDEO: WALKER SORRY FOR JOHANNISEN PUSH

SHOCKING LOSS: ‘GUTTED’ BEVO SLAMS ‘UNACCEPTABLE DOGS’

It just has to find it.

“It’s in this group,” he said.

“I know it’s in this group. It’s there. You don’t lose talent overnight. The application to the game is the thing that the guys need to look at — and we all need to look at.

“That’s there — the belief in each other gets tested at times with the way that we’re playing ... but it’s all still there. We need to find it, capture it and go with it.”

Marcus Bontempelli has the pressure put on him by Luke Brown. Picture: Sarah Reed

Morris said the team was most disappointed with the second-half drop-off that saw it score just one goal to the Crows’ 11, with a “raw and intense” meeting with the coaches following post-game.

“The drop-off was unacceptable and we as a group and a club need to look at it, address it, review it and get better,” he said on SEN today.

“We’re still searching for answers. As you see last night, things can look good ... the drop off in the second half was the concern.

“We’ll review the game and look for answers and look for ways to get our game back on.”

The Bulldogs are facing a crucial month.

Clashes with Carlton, Gold Coast, Essendon and Brisbane loom in coming weeks.

The season is then rounded out with meetings with two top-eight teams in Greater Western Sydney and Port Adelaide.

Things need to “click”, Morris said.

“I don’t think we have put a full game together all year, which is frustrating,” he said.

“Everyone was thinking ‘it will click soon’ and it hasn’t — not yet.

“Anything is possible for this last part of the year and we need to ... apply ourselves for the rest of the season.”

But he firmly dismissed the suggestion that contentment in the premiership has swept through the Kennel.

“I don’t buy into that. The way the guys came back was in a good way. I don’t think there’s anyone content with what they’ve done and if they are and we see that, they get the feedback that they require,” he said.

“I don’t think that’s a concern.”

The Bulldogs were demoralised last night by Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images

Former Bulldogs forward coach and Geelong premiership player Cameron Mooney should “absolutely” continue to fight for finals.

But he said they potentially won the premiership last year “before their time”.

“I’ve got no problem with what the Bulldogs will do in the future — they’ll be a great side again, no question,” Mooney said on SEN.

“I think they’ll be a very, very good side to push for another premiership.

I just think this is the blip of the year that they were going to have off the back of having a young side.

“They were the seventh-best team last year. They had an amazing finals series, and we loved it.”

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge was lost for answers. Picture: AAP

St Kilda great Nick Dal Santo said Beveridge will be questioning whether his game plan or the players’ attitude is to blame for the team’s struggles.

“I think he’s confused, he’s trying to find out how you find that hunger,” Dal Santo said.

“It’s a tough situation where the coach is trying to work out ‘is it your game plan that’s no longer holding up or is it the team’s effort and will’.

“I reckon he’s really trying to find out which one it is but he’s in a no man’s land at the moment.

“It’s a really tough situation. They’re getting the opposition’s best every week. A few players have been getting different tactics against them, which they’re struggling with.

“But I think overall that’s a conversation they’ll be having internally.”