After making a strong first impression last Saturday against the Eagles, Luke Beveridge says Saturday’s round two match against the Tigers is a chance to back-up the a performance that yielded his men four points in round one.
The Bulldogs will enter the match with only one change to the side who defeated West Coast by ten points, with Ayce Cordy coming in to replace Jack Redpath.
Beveridge said his side would look to pick-up where they left off last Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.
“There’s some positive messages (after round one) coming out and that’s important, unfortunately it’s only a one game sample so we need to make sure we follow up this week.
“A lot has been spoken about how different we are, so every week we go out we’re trying to make a statement about where we are in the competition.
“It’s a chance to really challenge the Tigers and hopefully get the result going our way.”
Beveridge said the even spread that Richmond have would be the biggest challenge for the Dogs, but was confident that if his side can repeat their efforts from round one they would take it right up to last year’s finalists.
“They’re an experienced backline now and they’ve got some threats up forward, I suppose through all their lines they’ve got some real quality.
“We just need to make sure that we’ve got that spread and similar to last week, if we do then I think the Tigers will find it difficult.”
Beveridge said the addition of Cordy was a reward for an impressive pre-season and best on ground performance in the VFL for Footscray last week.
“He deserves to come in, and I expect him to play well in the ruck and forward and really start to build his 2015.
“I’ve got every belief in him that he’ll go really well against Richmond.”
Beveridge also lauded the efforts of the Club’s recruiting team to secure its’ young talent, which includes the signatures of Jake Stringer, Jack Macrae, Luke Dahlhaus and Jordan Roughead in the last month.
“I think it sends a really positive message to their teammates, and particularly our supporters, that they’re enjoying their working life and they believe in the environment and the direction we’re heading.”
