While there is just five weeks to go until the Dogs’ first hit-out against opposition, backline coach Daniel Pratt says there is still plenty of time for fine-tuning.
The squad was put through its paces with a match simulation session on Monday morning, with more match-like minutes to come again on Friday.
Pratt said while the coaches have been pleased with the performances, there are still some things they’d like to tidy up between now and February.
“We got a lot of them on the track for a little scratch match on Monday, off the back of a pretty tough Friday (session) last week,” he said.
“We had a lighter session today and then have some more match play on Friday which is good. We’ve been happy so far but there’s a lot of work to do.
“We’ll make sure we tidy up some of those fundamentals that we need to get right for our game style to work properly.
“We’ve got a solid block coming up of football-like drills plus the normal skill acquisition stuff we do. There’s still a lot of work we’ve got to get in in the next few weeks but it’s ramping up quite quickly.”
Pratt was particularly impressed by draftees Lachlan Carmichael and Louis Emmett, who both held their own in Monday’s match sim.
“Lachy and Louis have already shown why they’re high talents and why we got them,” Pratt said.
“They’ve both handled themselves really well in the scratch matches so far. We’ve been pleased to this point.”
The Bulldogs will officially launch their 2026 AFL Season with the red, white and blue faithful at next Saturday’s Fan Fest at Mission Whitten Oval.
Members and fans can register their attendance for free via this link.
