The defeat to North Melbourne has not dampened the spirits of the Bulldogs heading into round 22 Senior Coach Brendan McCartney says, with his side set for their next challenge — league leaders Sydney Swans.
“They are a vibrant group. They are a pretty resilient group our boys, it was a tough day last week in a lot of ways – the start and finish in particular were not how we want to be seen and how we want to play,” McCartney said.
“They are awake today and they are looking forward to playing a fantastic footy Club – whichever way you look at it they have produced great results for a long period of time.
“It’s another game of footy and we want to go and give a really good account of ourselves.”
McCartney indicated there would be changes to the side that lost to North Melbourne on Sunday, hinting young recruits Jack Macrae and Nathan Hrovat were firmly in the mix.
“Those two young guys who had a download last week will be back in this week, Jackson and Nathan, if they get through training,” he said.
“There will be some changes to the team and we will keep introducing young people in and people who deserve an opportunity and this week is no different.”
One area of the ground McCartney does not want to tinker too much with the lineup is the Bulldogs defensive cohort, with the group benefiting from playing as a group in recent weeks.
“Our backline had some goals kicked against them but they are a group that are starting to gel together and work together and learn together,” he said.
“They were left very open at times last week and that is our challenge as a club to help them and support them but there won’t be many changes down there.”
While Sydney’s potent forward line of Lance Franklin and Kurt Tippett pose a daunting prospect, McCartney said as a group the team has done well to restrict the opponent’s main key forwards in the past fortnight.
“We’ve been ok at nullifying the main goal kicker in each club for a few weeks now, the last two weeks in particular – so let’s see if we can do it again,” he said.
The Bulldogs have restricted Drew Petrie and Nick Riewoldt to two and one goals respectively in the past two rounds and will look to replicate that again this weekend.
