bornadog
15-05-2013, 03:18 PM
Link (http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/dogs-ready-to-turn-the-corner-mccartney-20130515-2jlz1.html)
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa198/mmsalih/art-wbAFLdogs-620x349_zps8b287031.jpg (http://s202.photobucket.com/user/mmsalih/media/art-wbAFLdogs-620x349_zps8b287031.jpg.html)
Western Bulldogs coach Brendon McCartney has reiterated his confidence the club is poised to extricate itself from a stint in which it has won only one of its past 18 matches.
The Bulldogs won four of their first eight matches after McCartney took the helm at the start of 2012. Since then, however, their only victories have been at home to Port Adelaide in the middle of last season and at home to Brisbane in the first round of this season.
Their record since that victory over the Power is worse to that of beleaguered Melbourne. Not only have the Demons won four matches but they rank ahead of the Bulldogs for average scores for (78.1 to 69.4 and against 113.6 to 118.2) and also inside-50 differential deficits (-7.5 to -11.3).
Before the team trained on Wednesday the coach agreed even getting a single win, a possibility this week away to Gold Coast, would provide a motivational boost to the players and also its supporters, but warned that "if you worry totally about the result it can paralyse you too".
"It's a great opportunity for us (against the Suns). Where we're at on the ladder (is) because of a difficult draw, which we can't control. We've had some injuries to key experienced, talented players, which we can and can't control," he said.
"But what we can control is how we play, and we're really looking forward to an opportunity to play they way we did last week (against North Melbourne in the first half), and have at times during the year, for longer."
Against the Kangaroos last weekend the Bulldogs trailed by only 14 points at half-time but lost the match by nine goals. McCartney said during that match his team competed well for roughly 80 per cent of the match, which reflected the state of development for the youth-infused list.
Asked about the reason for the lack of scrutiny on his club compared to the Demons, McCartney said he hoped it was because pundits saw greater immediate cause for optimism at the Bulldogs.
"The one thing you've got to analyse when you watch a club is do they look functional (and) are the players cracking in and working hard and look like a group of players who want to work for each other? You can't escape that.
"The next thing you've got to factor in is how has the draw handled them, how is their injury list, how competitive they are. When you watch a club or game you've got to factor all of those things in."
One area the Bulldogs must improve in, McCartney said, was ensuring areas in which they perform well in, such as clearances and contested possessions, result in scoring more regularly.
"We know exactly where we're at, and not a day goes by where we don't work our backsides off in those areas to get better in those areas," he said.
"The time will come quite soon where we'll start to get more reward for the hard work we're doing around the ball. That's the challenge for our players."
While Demons coach Mark Neeld last week rued his team's comparative lack of tackling strength compared to the Suns, the McCartney was confident about the Bulldogs' capacity to at least match them, not only for strength but also experience.
"We've had games this year where we've clearly been a lot less experienced than our opposition and it's got us in the end. We've got a game this week where we haven't (yet) done all the sums but it probably does stack up quite equally," he said.
"We'll be OK with it (matching Suns for strength) I think. But they've improved significantly . . . they've hardened-up really well around the ball and they're hanging on to the ball a little bit better, so they're learning to deal with the tempo of the game. The things that are important in building a game around they're coming along really well.
"We've got to remember that in almost every line there's two people who've been taken early in the national draft so we're know we're playing a talented young team and we have to play well to get a result."
The Bulldogs will recall first-year defender Brett Goodes after a two-match suspension, which should be important, considering their opponents scored an average of 144 points when he was out compared to 97 when he was in. Young players Jackson Macrae and Jake Stringer will also be in contention to return.
"Defenders who can play those roles on dangerous small forwards are really handy," the coach said of Goodes' return for Saturday's match at Metricon Stadium.
"We've put our defence under a lot of pressure this year. In the past couple of weeks they haven't handled it as well as they would've liked but in the first five weeks they stood up really well. It's a team thing but we'll welcome him back.
"We've got some depth coming back in, some really young players we want to keep giving experiences to. Our injury list is shrinking bit by bit."
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa198/mmsalih/art-wbAFLdogs-620x349_zps8b287031.jpg (http://s202.photobucket.com/user/mmsalih/media/art-wbAFLdogs-620x349_zps8b287031.jpg.html)
Western Bulldogs coach Brendon McCartney has reiterated his confidence the club is poised to extricate itself from a stint in which it has won only one of its past 18 matches.
The Bulldogs won four of their first eight matches after McCartney took the helm at the start of 2012. Since then, however, their only victories have been at home to Port Adelaide in the middle of last season and at home to Brisbane in the first round of this season.
Their record since that victory over the Power is worse to that of beleaguered Melbourne. Not only have the Demons won four matches but they rank ahead of the Bulldogs for average scores for (78.1 to 69.4 and against 113.6 to 118.2) and also inside-50 differential deficits (-7.5 to -11.3).
Before the team trained on Wednesday the coach agreed even getting a single win, a possibility this week away to Gold Coast, would provide a motivational boost to the players and also its supporters, but warned that "if you worry totally about the result it can paralyse you too".
"It's a great opportunity for us (against the Suns). Where we're at on the ladder (is) because of a difficult draw, which we can't control. We've had some injuries to key experienced, talented players, which we can and can't control," he said.
"But what we can control is how we play, and we're really looking forward to an opportunity to play they way we did last week (against North Melbourne in the first half), and have at times during the year, for longer."
Against the Kangaroos last weekend the Bulldogs trailed by only 14 points at half-time but lost the match by nine goals. McCartney said during that match his team competed well for roughly 80 per cent of the match, which reflected the state of development for the youth-infused list.
Asked about the reason for the lack of scrutiny on his club compared to the Demons, McCartney said he hoped it was because pundits saw greater immediate cause for optimism at the Bulldogs.
"The one thing you've got to analyse when you watch a club is do they look functional (and) are the players cracking in and working hard and look like a group of players who want to work for each other? You can't escape that.
"The next thing you've got to factor in is how has the draw handled them, how is their injury list, how competitive they are. When you watch a club or game you've got to factor all of those things in."
One area the Bulldogs must improve in, McCartney said, was ensuring areas in which they perform well in, such as clearances and contested possessions, result in scoring more regularly.
"We know exactly where we're at, and not a day goes by where we don't work our backsides off in those areas to get better in those areas," he said.
"The time will come quite soon where we'll start to get more reward for the hard work we're doing around the ball. That's the challenge for our players."
While Demons coach Mark Neeld last week rued his team's comparative lack of tackling strength compared to the Suns, the McCartney was confident about the Bulldogs' capacity to at least match them, not only for strength but also experience.
"We've had games this year where we've clearly been a lot less experienced than our opposition and it's got us in the end. We've got a game this week where we haven't (yet) done all the sums but it probably does stack up quite equally," he said.
"We'll be OK with it (matching Suns for strength) I think. But they've improved significantly . . . they've hardened-up really well around the ball and they're hanging on to the ball a little bit better, so they're learning to deal with the tempo of the game. The things that are important in building a game around they're coming along really well.
"We've got to remember that in almost every line there's two people who've been taken early in the national draft so we're know we're playing a talented young team and we have to play well to get a result."
The Bulldogs will recall first-year defender Brett Goodes after a two-match suspension, which should be important, considering their opponents scored an average of 144 points when he was out compared to 97 when he was in. Young players Jackson Macrae and Jake Stringer will also be in contention to return.
"Defenders who can play those roles on dangerous small forwards are really handy," the coach said of Goodes' return for Saturday's match at Metricon Stadium.
"We've put our defence under a lot of pressure this year. In the past couple of weeks they haven't handled it as well as they would've liked but in the first five weeks they stood up really well. It's a team thing but we'll welcome him back.
"We've got some depth coming back in, some really young players we want to keep giving experiences to. Our injury list is shrinking bit by bit."