Following Sunday’s come-from-behind win over North Melbourne, westernbulldogs.com.au has pulled out the five key takeaways from Luke Beveridge's post-game press conference.
The Bulldog spirit
For the second successive week, the Bulldogs have clawed back a significant deficit to get over the line.
"The boys are showing a lot of character. It shows our spirit's there,” Beveridge said.
"We're trying to build some experiences that are going to hold us in good stead in the future and today’s definitely a great experience."
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Overcoming adversity
North Melbourne took control of the contest immediately Zaine Cordy was helped from the field in the second quarter with a facial fracture, but the Bulldogs regrouped impressively.
"Our history has been that we haven't been that great when we've lost a player early in the game. We haven't been able to win a lot of those games,” Beveridge said.
“To do it two weeks in a row when we lost Roarke last week, that's encouraging.
“For the players to really stabilise under pressure, and then some of those playing different roles, it was an exciting day really.
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Ball use
After a dominant first two quarters from North Melbourne’s tall defenders, who chopped off many of the Bulldogs’ forward 50 forays, a realignment of strategy in the second half saw the game open up and the Dogs scored more freely.
“We kicked it long, mostly to (Majak) Daw, in that first half in those deeper entries. We were kicking it long from the centre of the ground to contests, which we don’t usually do,” Beveridge said.
“We went in with a smaller forward line – took one of the bigger guys out and it was just ‘Schach’, and smalls. We forced each other to use the ball of the line more.
“It worked out. We got them offside and kicked some good goals.”
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Building for the future
With finals out of the equation leading into the back-end of the season, the Bulldogs are looking for signs that the future is a bright one, and they’ve plenty of them in the last fortnight.
"To their credit, the boys, with what's going on around them, they're persevering and they're trying to do their best individually, and all that's adding up to a spirited team performance,” Beveridge said.
"It does put some money in the bank for the future. We haven't played together a lot. It's a very different mix.
"It's quite exciting to see that unfold and hopefully, as long as we maintain that, and looking ahead, we can really leverage off it, we can work it into a really positive for us."
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Dale Morris
Beveridge paid tribute to the Bulldogs’ defender Dale Morris, who put in a typically inspirational performance in his 250th game.
“It was a pretty good eight possession game today from ‘Moz’, when you consider how hard he hit contests, how many spoils he made, how many North Melbourne transitions that he foiled.
“It’s probably one of I don’t know how many of those 250 that epitomise that team-based spirit, and that selflessness that he brings to his team each week.
“There’s no doubt that his team-mates, every week they get some inspiration from him. But today there’s no doubt I think they wanted to do extremely well for their team-mate and their brother in Dale Morris.”
