It was a disappointing end to the regular season for Head Coach Tam Hyett and the Dogs, going down to the Cats by 68 points on Friday night.
However, with finals now just a week away, Hyett believes the lessons the team can take from the last two weeks will be critical for their ability to reset and play the brand a brand of footy they can be proud of.
Here's what the head coach had to say:
On how she saw the game:
“If I wasn’t the coach of the opposition side, it would have been fun to watch.
“Obviously, they’re class.
“Mick has them humming, they’re elite by hand, and probably got a jump on us early with around the ball and getting it too easily around the outside.
“We got taught a lesson tonight.
“The pressure that they brought was finals.
“That’s what I just said to our girls post-game: ‘Get ready, because it doesn’t get any easier.’”
On form heading into finals:
“The last two weeks we have been pretty disappointing, but we’ve done a lot of good work.
“We’ve played the top-ten sides. Based on our draw, we know we can compete; it’s just, can we do it for longer?
“There were some areas where I think our contest was pretty poor. That’s something that we genuinely pride ourselves on, and that gave them first use of the footy.
“We just couldn’t get our hands on the footy.”
On the team mix and dynamics:
“We’ve been really lucky, probably all year, where we’ve had a really healthy list.
“The girls that came in have been knocking down the door.
“Good form, winning form, and players playing their role - but we thought it was a really good opportunity to get them in.
“Brooke Barwick was great tonight.
“She’s been super all year, even in not playing; it was great to see her perform out there.
“You’ve got to go with a full-squad mentality.”
On moving Heidi Woodley in the midfield:
“We probably lacked a little bit of forward-half power with Pritchy being out, with Fitzy being out.
“We just thought it would be a good look.
"She’s got some power and speed and can give the ball a good roost, so we thought it would help with some forward-half territory.”
On Ellie Blackburn and any injury concerns:
“She had a scan last week, potentially a bit of a niggle with her hamstring, and got cleared.
“We chose to rest her tonight and get her ready for first finals.
“She’s played 80-odd games, and this will potentially only be her third-ever final, and she’s a really important part to our forward half.
“Potentially line ball, but we chose a conservative approach.”
On the lessons from the last two weeks:
“They’re two bloody good sides.
“What we’ve learned is that they bring pressure; they have some really high-end talent, especially in that midfield that have played together for a long time.
“That’s what we learned last week, some of the Melbourne players being together for eight years, eight seasons.
“We’re still in that development, still building that cohesive unit in there.
“We’re making progress.
“Obviously, you want to see yourself be a little bit more competitive against that high-end team.
“But we’ll reset, and we’ll turn up again next week.”
On Pritchard’s return:
“She was listed as 1–3 (weeks), so we’ll know a little bit more after Tuesday’s training on how she is.
“She’s a pretty resilient bugger and pretty determined to play.
“We’ll know more early in the week.”
