Veteran forward Tory Dickson believes the Western Bulldogs’ only taste of Friday night action this season will provide an added boost as they look to bounce back against Collingwood.
The Bulldogs fell agonisingly short against the Gold Coast Suns on Sunday, falling five points short after another final-quarter comeback.
Dickson, who is set to play his 100th AFL match, is confident the Dogs have what it takes to come up trumps against last year’s grand finalist.
“It’ll be good to get out under the lights on a Friday night,” Dickson told media at VU Whitten Oval today.
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“We’ve got a lot of Sunday games this year, so I think a fair few of the boys are pretty pumped and really looking forward to the challenge.
“They’re a good team, they bat really deep and they’ve got a really good midfield. They lost to West Coast last week, so they’ll be ready to go and looking forward to the challenge as well.
“They’re a quality team, and obviously making the grand final last year it’ll be a big challenge for us.”
Dickson said the Dogs would need to rectify the slow start against the Suns, and ensure they make the most of their chances around goals.
“You’ve got to start (well), you’ve got to be 100 per cent all the time because if you’re a little bit off your game… full credit to the Suns, they came out and they played a good brand of football and really stunned us,” Dickson said.
“It was six goals to two in the first quarter, and it was all chasing from there.
“We had plenty of opportunities, and we’ll work on that and look forward to how we capitalize and make the most of our opportunities next time. We definitely generated enough (to win).”
A positive for the Dogs will be the pending returns of Jason Johannisen, Tom Boyd, Lin Jong and Jackson Trengove at AFL or VFL level this weekend.
“We’ve got a really good list – there’s only a couple of injuries at the moment,” Dickson said.
“That’s great for those guys, ‘Jongy’ coming back after a long hamstring and obviously Tom Boyd with the back… we’re really healthy at the moment, which is probably somewhere where we haven’t been over the past couple of years.”
