Having endured his fair share of injury setbacks, defender Nick Coffield credits his resilience to return and impact at AFL level.
Speaking after the Dogs’ 79-point win over Richmond, Coffield said it was nice to be back in the senior side after a run of injury setbacks.
“It’s been tough…unfortunately I feel like I’ve become pretty good at dealing with setbacks and that, which is a positive I can get through it but I’d rather not (get injured),” he said.
“It’s just about staying engaged with the group. It can get pretty dark sometimes in rehab, especially when you have some recurring setbacks…but the group has been awesome in getting around me.
“I think Bevo and Pratty were pretty clear in what they wanted me to do (at VFL level), so I had a little stint there and felt like I was able to build my game enough to come back in and impact.
“I’m just happy to be back out there and playing my role for the boys.”
Despite the difference in ladder positioning – with the Dogs now placed eighth and the Tigers in 17th – Coffield said it was important to get on the front foot early.
“No team is an easy beat - you still have to come out and put your best foot forward, which I think we did really well from the outset,” he said.
“There’ll be some learnings we can take into next week, but overall I think it was pretty positive.
“I think we’ve been focusing a lot on our starts – from the outset, the mids were putting on the heat so that makes our jobs in the backline a lot easier.
“We didn’t know what Richmond were going to throw at us at the start of the game, so coming out and setting the tone early was going to be crucial for us.”
The Bulldogs will now shift their attention to Sydney on Friday night.
“The focus (changes) pretty quickly because we’re on a five-day break,” Coffield said.
“When we’re back in the club this week, we’ll be moving on pretty quickly…the Swans are in good form, so we’ll need to be on our game.”
