Senior Coach Brendan McCartney says his players have been eager students this week, as they look to improve against the Crows this Sunday.

While McCartney’s approach rarely deviates from week to week, the Bulldogs coach said there has been more fire in the belly at training ahead of the round six clash against Adelaide.

“Most weeks don’t differ much in a footy department but some weeks have a bit more pepper in them than others,” McCartney said.

The Bulldogs coaching panel were pointed in the post-match review against Carlton, identifying a number of areas to be rectified on Sunday.

“We stung them internally, we all accept responsibility for a pretty average day on Sunday, really the scoreboard flattered what happened, it should have been a lot worse,” he said.

“But we are confident that we will bounce back, we think we are building some resilient boys who know what they want to stand for and know how they want to be seen.

“They want to be accountable for each other and we get opportunity in another three days to improve on what we served up last week.”

McCartney also hinted there could be changes at the selection table on Thursday night as he looks to reward those in the VFL who have been waiting in the wings.

“We know we’ve got some good depth going through now – we are quite an even group,” he said.

“We may be able to bring a couple in this week that have had to wait awhile for a chance and often they can play with a bit more sting in their tail.”