The unusual suspects helping the Western Bulldogs get better

July 21, 2014 - 4:30PM
Emma Quayle
The Age

Brendan McCartney knew why his Western Bulldogs had lost to Brisbane Lions, but he didn’t want to tell the players where and why they had gone wrong. And as it turned out, he didn’t need to.

Rather than gather the group together six weeks ago, talk the players through some edited clips and ask them what they should have done, the coach instead had them sit through a full replay of the second quarter, asking them to point out the things they thought their coaches would otherwise have brought up.

What he heard made him happy. “The Brisbane experience was an interesting one because it wasn’t really a lack of effort in the second quarter that unravelled us. It was a variety of circumstances, and in the end there were a lot of greedy little boys who all wanted the ball and chased it and left people sitting in dangerous places,” said McCartney of the Lions' seven-to-two-goal quarter, which led to the Bulldogs' eighth loss.

“But they reviewed it well as a group. We asked them to review it as a coach might review it, so they could actually link up the connection between their behaviours and what unravelled. I think that was really important for them. I saw them grow up a lot, and they’re committed.

“They know what it looks like when we play well, we know what it looks like, and they’re committed to being able to do it for much, much longer.”

Now, McCartney drives to games feeling sure that his side will be in the game until it ends. Most weeks, that is. “Nine out of 10 times,” said the coach, “I feel confident.”

The Bulldogs won't make the eight, and still have some gaps to fill. But they are evidence that teams can evolve throughout seasons and don't necessarily keep playing the way they played in round three, four or five. Sides that start the season needing to get better might just need time to make people see what it is they've been working on, particularly those that are feeding games to a large group of kids.

Ryan Griffen plays well all the time, Bob Murphy is as light-footed as ever and the Bulldogs are not a team of babies, but since round 13 their under-22s have made their team a better one. Jake Stringer has kicked nine goals, five against Essendon on Sunday, to be leading the goalkicking in that six-week period. Marcus Bontempelli sits second with nine goals, has kicked the ball inside 50 more times than any other player (28), and developed a habit of handling very big moments with very little fuss.

Jack Macrae followed his 43-possession game against Gold Coast with 32 more touches on Sunday, and is leading the club for disposals, kicks, marks and uncontested possession in the last six rounds. That he has held the spot McCartney indicated was vulnerable before the Geelong loss indicates his willingness to keep working on other things.

The form that made Tom Liberatore one of the competition's best young contested ball winners means you can remove the word "young" now. He's led the club for contested possessions, clearances and tackles since the Lions loss, with Mitch Wallis ranking fifth for tackles in that time.

It seems not that long ago that Luke Dahlhaus was the exciting baby Bulldog, the glimmer of hope. Don't let Bontempelli, Macrae and company make you forget about him: in the past six weeks he has led the club for score involvements and score assists, ranking third for tackles and scoreboard impact. Then there is Nathan Hrovat, Lachie Hunter, Jason Johannisen, with others still making their way in the club's VFL side ...

“This is what happens with young players. If you go to the draft and you put a lot of young people into your team, they show a little glimpse then they get tired and they go out, which has happened to all of those guys,” McCartney said.

“Then, one by one, they have games where you just go 'wow, there's something to really work with there'. And then as your team evolves, and they play more footy together and get to know each other better and feel more comfortable on the field, they all start to do it together.

“When they do, that's when the fun part starts. It's still tough, but that's when you drive to the footy each week really confident you're going to be right in the game. And I feel that now.”

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-new...#ixzz388hRoT61

Nice article, thanks for posting.

Great article. Emma's one of the few journos I'd waste some megs of my data rip off o/s deal;)