An intense contest is what Western Bulldogs tagger Liam Picken predicts from Port Adelaide in Darwin, as both sides look to overcome unfamiliar conditions and come away with the four points on Saturday evening.
While Port Adelaide boast five wins this season, they have dropped their past four matches, while the Bulldogs will be looking to add momentum from last weekend’s victory.
The Bulldogs have not lost to Port Adelaide in their past six outings and Picken said his teammates’ exposure to heat chambers at Victoria University should also help them contend with the humidity unfamiliar conditions in Darwin.
“They’ve had a great start to the season and obviously played some really good footy, so should be a good contest on Saturday night,” Picken said.
“The last few times we have been up there we have had good results.
“I think we are starting to get used to going up there, we have obviously done the work at VU (Victoria University) so hopefully that pays off on Saturday night.”
The Bulldogs took the honours over St Kilda in a nine point victory last weekend, winning all but the second quarter, and showing maturity to hang in the contest when it looked like the Saints would take control of the game.
Picken said although the win provided a much needed boost to the team and that positives out of the game were plentiful, the feeling around the Club was there was still a lot of work to do.
“It’s great, so hopefully we can build on that, we got over the line in the last quarter, so we continued to improve,” he said.
“It was great to see some of the young guys come in and have an impact.
“It’s just continuing to build on the areas that we were good in on the weekend and to fix some areas we weren’t so good in.”
Taking on more of a leadership role in the past 18 months, Picken said finding consistency amongst the young group is one of the biggest challenges facing the Bulldogs this year.
“I think it’s just consistency throughout the game - obviously we have had games where we have played well for three quarters and there might have been a quarter or five minute patch here or there,” he said.
“I think once we rectify that and to be consistent throughout the whole game with our performance and concentration, hopefully results go our way.
“Obviously there’s a lot of guys who have left in the last couple of years but it’s great to have so many young players in the team and around the Club, it’s been really exciting.”
Picken has also had to adjust to a slightly different role around the ground this season, rotating between the back six and midfield depending on the opponent.
“Every week is different and every side is different, so there’s so many different roles week to week,” he said.
“It’s been a new role, it’s been exciting obviously having Dale back this year… he has been great down back.
“I’ve played a little bit in the midfield too, it’s good to move around.”
