The perfect start to the season.

The Western Bulldogs will be riding high following their Opening Round victory over the reigning premiers at the Gabba on Saturday night. 

After trailing by as much as 26 points, the Dogs dug in to fight for a famous victory and start the season off with the right foot forwad. 

Here's what Senior Coach Luke Bevridge had to say following the game. 

On his rendition of 'Tooth and Nail' 

“Yeah, it was a bit silly.”

“Andrew Kidman, who wrote that song and performed it, it was great for us.

“It was great for us to have that initiative. He’s an artist, there’s not much money in some of the arts these days.

“You can actually buy the souped-up version, which starts with ‘Improvise and Overcome’, for 99c on Bandcamp.

“Our supporters should download that one and see if it resonates with them.

“It just keeps playing over and over in my head.

“That was silly. It’s only Round 0, but you let your guard down and have a bit of fun.

“The mood is great.

“When you play last year’s premiers and you set yourself a task, and you’ve got a belief that you’re a big chance to seize the day.”

On the game itself

“It seemed like history was repeating itself. We’ve had these games throughout the course of last year where we’d been in the game and then, just for a patch of a quarter, and sometimes in the third, we’ve been tested.

“Whether that’s in the contest or in the skill and game-sense side of the game, that happened in the third quarter.

“We couldn’t get it into our front half. We had four inside 50s with just a few minutes to go, and then we were able to get into our front half and kick a couple of goals.

“It just showed us, going into the three-quarter-time break, that if we get some supply again, we can test them and challenge them. That happened.

“I just thought our players were really composed, and some of the ball use from Richo and Lachy Bramble, and one or two others, in that quarter was just so important in the cut and thrust of the game.”

Third-quarter momentum shift

“This competition can really bite you at times and, when you’re playing last year’s premiers, it’s encouraging, but you never for a second think that you’re coming over the top of them because you know what they’re capable of.

“All I knew was that there was some persistence amongst our ranks.

“It was enough to make sure the margin was narrowed as we went into that break and, in the end, it was really crucial that we did.

“We hit the front reasonably early in that last quarter and, as they do because they’re such a good side, they gave themselves another chance.

“We gave up a couple of stoppage goals that we’d like back.

“You never rest against anyone, but particularly not against the Lions.”

Off-season focus on game fades

“We’ve worked on defensive elements.

“The game now, with the [rule changes], just makes it so difficult to defend.

“When you’re trying to keep a side like Brisbane to a reasonable score, you’ve got your work cut out.

“I thought our aerial stuff from Rory Lobb in particular, I thought some of their small-to-medium players took contested marks when they shouldn’t have.

“Other than that, we were reasonably good at the drop of those situations, and other than their speed in Charlie Cameron and Zac Bailey and the like being electric and hard to contain at times, we held up reasonably well.

“When you consider that Lachie Jaques, Michael Sellwood and Connor Budarick, the three of them, played in that backline for the first time all together with the other boys, and Buku still hasn’t played a lot of footy.

“I thought those lads held it together.

“Time will tell over the journey whether or not our defensive side is a bit different, but there were some encouraging signs last week against the Hawks, and there was nothing I saw, aside from those aerials, that we just need to be a bit better at.

“When you’ve got a talented and strong side like the Lions, they’re always going to test you in the contest, and they got the upper hand with that at times.

“I love the fact that we were able to arrest that in the last quarter.”

On the new stand rule

“I think everyone understands it.

“It’s probably the most difficult one for the umpires to get right.

“I didn’t think that anything tonight wasn’t understandable, whether it’s a 50-metre penalty or not.

“The simple thing is that they want someone to stand, so it’s harder to be outside five metres.

“What we have noticed, though, is that now you get called to stand when you’re not actually where the mark or the free kick is given or taken.

“That’s something that we’ll probably need a bit of clarification on.

“You get called to stand five metres away from where they marked it, so now they’ve got that little bit more space.

“That makes a huge difference in this game.

“That’s everyone, it’s not just us. I think if they call you to stand, you should still be able to come up to where the mark was taken.

“I don’t think they’re giving anyone that opportunity. We need some clarification on that. We’ll ask during the week.”

On Bont’s move forward

“There were a couple of things attached to that.

“One, having faith that he’ll be influential down there by putting faith in the one or two that now share the midfield responsibilities.

“They did a good job through the middle of the ground.

“I thought Ed, in particular, started to rise late, and Marcus was fighting the good fight.

“The unfortunate thing for him was that during the times where Sam (Darcy) or Aaron needed a rest, he’s got Harris Andrews standing on him.

“Now, Harris, I think, is the best key defender in the competition. Ideally, he’s not wearing that match-up because it means the aerial side is going to be really, really challenging.

“Late in the game, he went back into the middle for the last five or six minutes, then we put him behind the ball to stabilise us with one or two others.

“I thought the players handled the end-of-game scenario pretty well.

“That’s a good progression for us.”

On Tim English’s response to conceding a goal

“For him to find the energy to push forward like that was really crucial for us.

“He had a real impact, Tim, at different stages of the game.

“He’s still working through what it means for him, game-time-wise, to try and keep the energy up and the turnover game in all of our positions.

“I thought our staff on the bench handled it pretty well because we did need to chop and change.

“Arty came out of the game, Crofty came out of the game late. We needed to alter a few things late.

“I think with the new alterations to that side of it, I’m glad we’d rehearsed it the previous two weeks.”

On the game opening up in the last quarter and bench rotations

“It always matters. It really does.

“It’s more difficult now because you’ve got the extra player. You’ve got to work out who might play a bit of extra game time or who sits down for a little while.

“You’re mindful of what variations you might go to.

“We’ve been working on it behind the scenes, but if we thought about the derivatives, there’s thousands.

“The scenario-based side of the game, where you put players in the groups, it’s now a huge tactical and strategic challenge.

“It always has been, but I think it’s more so than it used to be.

“Quite simply, you can just sit that player down if you want to.

“Teams will do that at different times.

“Everyone’s working their way through it, and I don’t think you’re always going to get a good result.

“But I think everyone managed it pretty well tonight.”

On Arty Jones

“We took him out of the game.

“I’d imagine he’d probably miss a week, and hopefully he’s OK.

“He’s got a bit of a shiner.

“He’s a tough kid, Arty. He’s hard-boned.

“It must have been a hard hit for him to be hurt.

“Hopefully he’s going to be fine. I imagine we’re going to miss him for a week.”

On beating a top-eight team

“As much as we’re really honest with what happened last year, some of the things we needed to be better at we’ve really worked hard on.

“Mainly around the contest and defensive disciplines.

“It’s important that I don’t stay in the past, and we all live in the now and push ahead.

“In relevant terms, based on what they achieved last year, it is important for us.

“We’ve got a level of confidence that we weren’t too far away from those better teams last year.

“That’s a good position to be in on the dawn of the season.

“The transaction tonight was evidence that we might be bridging the gap a bit.”