westernbulldogs.com.au identifies the key takeaways from Senior Coach Luke Beveridge's press conference ahead of Sunday's clash with North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.
The Review
Beveridge reflects on the Club's 35-point victory over St.Kilda on Saturday night.
"There's lots of positives in the review as you can imagine".
"Seeing some of the cohesion between the lines more than anything, in the phases of play was extremely encouraging, so some good signs there.
"I think under pressure to win a game or two and to get so far down on the scoreboard but still feel like you're playing OK with the scoreboard probably not reflecting that you're in the game... for the boys to hold their nerve and really come hard was pretty impressive actually, from the group".
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Roarke Smith
Beveridge emphasised that the Club will take a cautious approach with Smith after he was ruled out of Saturday night's game after quarter time with a concussion.
"He's not going to play this week."
"We just want to make sure that we asses him and bring him back into a game - he's had a bit of a spell, he'd probably be able to pass his cog-state at the end of the week - but I don't even think we're going to even put him through that, we'll wait to next week.
"There's a bit of a chance he'll play the following week."
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Josh Dunkley
Dunkley has played some of the best games of his career in the past month and the coach reflected on the 21-year-old's evolution.
"Every now and then a player steps up really quickly and Dunks and I have had some great conversation around the prospects based on his potential.
"He's been working away with the coaches and some of his teammate on certain elements of his game, but his game has reached new heights really quickly.
"He had a couple of roles on opposition key players in the previous month and then he's really blossomed from there and on the weekend he played more of a freer midfield role."
"It wasn't just what he accumulated and what he did with the ball but his defensive action was benchmark stuff."
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Jason Johannisen
After a career best 42 disposals on the weekend, Beveridge his expecting the Bulldogs' speedster to get a bit of extra attention against North Melbourne.
"The key is to get a really good spread from his teammates and you always go in with some strategy to help him perform at his best and that might be that he plays a different role for different periods of time.”
"We've got enough strength through that high-defensive area and have some options through there to play some different players, and JJ has shown he's a good winger.
"He can play forward if we need him. It's difficult on a wet deck and windy day at Ballarat but we might play him forward for a period, even though it's probably not his best position."
"It's got to what's best for the team."
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Dale Morris
The veteran defender suits up for game 250 on Sunday.
“It takes all types and he's one of our heaviest and hardest contested players. You've seen him take on some very big forwards historically - we're not asking him to do that as much these days - he plays a bit of a different role.
“He sets that example, especially for the young defenders, of how to back up a physical game with great team-manship, so we're fortunate to still have him in our midst and playing some pretty good footy.”
“If you asked the hypothetical, as a forward who you wouldn't want to play on, I think there'd be lots of forwards who would say they wouldn't want to play on Dale Morris.”
