Hungry Western Bulldogs shift focus at pre-season training

A MEETING of Western Bulldogs players and staff paved the way for a summer of change at Whitten Oval.

A MEETING of Western Bulldogs players and staff paved the way for a summer of change at Whitten Oval.

With the club's fadeout in the second half of last season still in the forefront of their minds, the players requested a pre-season regimen full of running and competitive ball work.

Youngster Ayce Cordy, said coach Brendan McCartney, had delivered in spades.

"One thing `Macca' is very good at is when we ask him for things he gets them done," Cordy said.

"At the end of the season we had a big meeting about the biggest areas of improvement we need to find to move our way up the ladder.

"In the second half of the year we dropped off late in games, which was probably the most disappointing thing.

"So we had a big focus on not just running extra - although we have done a bit more running thus far - but also being able to be competitive, especially with hardball gets late in quarters when you're fatigued.

"There's been a shift in the training. We've had a bit of time for team bonding as well.

"There are a lot of young guys that we need to get right with each other and get their chemistry up, so we've had a bit of time for that, which has been spot-on."

Cordy said the change started with the trip to London in November, where the players met new high performance manager Graham Lowe.

The same post-season meeting also addressed on-field expectations for 2013.

Cordy said the club had to improve on last season's poor showing, but the players were realistic in their expectations.

"We're certainly not going to put a ceiling on our heads and say because we finished 15th last year we can only move up to 13th next season," he said.

"It's not going to be like that at all," he said.

"But at the same time, we've been through all the numbers as a playing group and we realise that we were a fair way off the mark in a few different areas and those areas have to improve.

"Realistically we're not going to go from 15th to first in a year, but hopefully in a lot of key performance indicators we can move right up in to the top eight.

"We just want to be a competitive football team that's very hard to play against."