CRICKET great Steve Waugh often warned against getting too carried away in the good times and getting too down in the bad times - and Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney is clearly a subscriber to such beliefs.
McCartney remained positive during his side's three losses this season, and on Sunday night he didn’t appear over-excited after the Bulldogs' 21-point victory over Melbourne at the MCG - a result that was a drought-breaker for both his side and his own fledgling coaching career.
"It's nice to win; you feel better, but ... ," a typically matter-of-fact McCartney said post-match.
"We've had a tough three week ... (and) I know a lot of our supporters were disappointed but often that's a learning experience, too."
A win was also important to vindicate the new direction of the club.
"Trust is often based on results," he said.
"Most of us, if we'd been asked to put our head down the hole and risk a bit of injury, you sort of like to know the benefits outweigh the costs sometimes, too; that you can actually get a result.
"But it's round four and there's 18 games to go and we've got a lot to get better at and a lot to learn."
McCartney said his team had played well for the most part but had lost its way for periods when it got away from the basics. He was proud of the way some of his "older, wiser heads" had brought the youngsters "back into the moment (to) realign them".
"Every time I looked out, I could see (Robert Murphy) talking and directing," he said. "That's so, so important that a bloke of his class and goodness can rub off on our younger players. And Ryan Hargrave was really important in that area too tonight."
The leadership of Murphy and Hargrave was vital in an inexperienced Dogs' defence, which was missing key men Brian Lake, Dale Morris, Tom Williams and Lukas Markovic.
True to form, McCartney wasn't about to bemoan the absence of this quartet.
"You've got what you've got - every club's missing players," he said. "We saw a couple of clubs have great wins yesterday with five, six, seven players out - and we've got to be the same."
McCartney insisted the lack of defensive stocks had not been a pre-match concern, despite their key backmen being usual ruckman/forward Jordan Roughead and elevated rookie Mark Austin.
"If we worry about that, it'll spook them," he said. "And if it gets in there slow and wide and high, they’ve got an opportunity. We thought if we took care of where the ball was at, it would help these boys get some confidence."
Roughead spent most of the night on Melbourne spearhead Mitch Clark and restricted him to just one goal.
"It's nice to know that a big kid can play in the ruck, play forward and play tall back," his coach said.
McCartney had also been impressed by former Carlton player Austin.
"He's rebuilding a career that got derailed a little bit through injury and came out of a very strong club and perhaps some people were in front of him at the time," he said.
"He showed he's probably got the right sort of mental make-up to help us down there going forward."
Murphy said the contest had been "a scrap" of "tough, honest footy".
"It probably wasn't great for the spectators in terms of glamorous play, but when you've had a month like ours it's good just to crawl over the line," he said.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
