Emerging star Jake Stringer says the Western Bulldogs' developing attack will only become more potent over time.
The powerful Stringer was the Bulldogs' most dangerous forward with three goals in their season-opening 11-point win over West Coast at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
The 20-year-old is fast earning a reputation as a unique player: blessed with explosive speed and strength, the ability to play in the midfield and as a forward, and matchwinning qualities as a goalkicker.
He is one of the reasons it seems the Dogs’ forward line – once a weakness – will soon become a strength, given it is more diverse and potentially potent following the recruitment of promising key forward Tom Boyd, the availability of Stewart Crameri, the improvement of big Jack Redpath – and of course Stringer's continued development.
"Having two big guys down there like Jack Redpath and Tommy Boyd adds a whole new dimension to our forward line and make us a lot harder to match up," Stringer told AFL.com.au post-match.
"Jack can go on the ball, Tommy can go in the ruck, me and Stewie can both go on the wing and in the midfield. It's just a real dynamic forward line. And we'll only get better the more we play with each other."
The streamlined Stringer, who lost 5kg over the pre-season to enhance his midfield options, showed he has lost none of his strength, at one point out-muscling Eagles skipper Shannon Hurn to claim a strong mark.
The only blot on Stringer's game was his inaccuracy. He could easily have bagged six goals and sewn up three Brownlow votes. Now he might have to settle for one or two.
Stringer had eight shots and kicked 3.3, with two efforts sailing out on the full. Admittedly he attempted some shots from tough positions, sometimes after winning balls he seemingly had no right to win.
Post-match, the contested-ball animal wasn't getting carried away with his performance. In fact, he was already planning to be more efficient against Richmond at the MCG next Saturday afternoon.
"It was good to get on the scoreboard. Obviously it would've been nice to kick a couple more that I missed. The delivery I was getting was pretty spot on, so I had no complaints there. I'll just work on the goalkicking during the week and hopefully come out and kick a couple next week," he said.
Pre-season expectations for him to kick 40-50 goals don't daunt Stringer. They don't even enter his mind. He's more worried about his team having a spread of scoring options.
"We're not relying on one or two blokes to kick goals. Our whole game plan's based on versatility and making sure we have multiple goalkickers among the midfielders, and even tonight Jason Johannisen kicked a couple from half-back. We want to get goals from everywhere so we're not predictable."
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said Stringer was pivotal to the win.
"Jake's playing multiple roles for us and I felt at different stages when West Coast had momentum that he ignited us and got us back into the game," Beveridge said in his post-match press conference.
"He spent some time through the midfield, and his game got better as the night went on.
"He probably didn't start off the way he'd like to but we were really happy with his performance.
"Our expectations are that he continued to explore his multi-dimensional roles, because he can be a powerful midfielder, but he'll obviously spend more time up forward."
