Luke Beveridge: Western Bulldogs put through a 'combative' pre-season

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has revealed his team has had its most "combative" pre-season in his short reign and that he is on edge heading into the new campaign.
The Bulldogs' season lifted a gear on Saturday when they held an intra-club clash in humid and blustery conditions at the Whitten Oval, ahead of next Saturday's JLT Community series opener against Hawthorn in Ballarat.

Midfielder Tom Liberatore, after a sub-par 2017 campaign, fellow onballer Jack Macrae, Jason Johannisen, in a new role across half-forward, and a lean Marcus Bontempelli were among those to impress. Big men Tom Boyd and Josh Schache, the former Lion, struggled in attack but found more of a groove in the ruck.
The Bulldogs are determined to rebound from a disappointing premiership defence when they failed to even make the finals. This made for a long and tough pre-season, their fourth under Beveridge, one in which the players have been asked to be more aggressive in their training.
This philosophy will continue through the JLT series, with the Dogs' second and final clash against Collingwood in Moe.
"We are treating both of the games as formal rehearsals for round one, really," Beveridge said on Saturday.
''We haven't got enough time to muck around. We have worked hard ... the boys have probably been more combative of each other as they have in previous pre-seasons, for various reasons. You hold your breath a little bit with that.
"They are a little bit like interstate trips, albeit to Ballarat and Moe. The AFL in their wisdom have sent us to ... Ballarat and Hamilton, so we need to split the group, unfortunately.
"We will prepare for a serious hitout against Hawthorn. We will go hard. Hawthorn will, and we need to prepare for that. It's always, I don't know if exciting is the word, but you are on edge about your performances and how that shapes the year. We will be looking to do really, really well."
Skipper Easton Wood said he had been "really excited about is the intensity with which the guys have attacked this pre-season".
"Whether it was from day one, or the [intra-club] game, we have had a really consistent intensity and approach that is brought to training each day. It's a bit hard to know where we are at the moment, but I feel good about what we have put together through the pre-season so far and we are looking forward to the challenge ahead."
The Dogs will head to Ballarat on Thursday where they will conduct a two-day community camp in a town they hope to make their own.
Beveridge also said the Bulldogs hoped to become a better offensive side. They struggled to score last year, ranking 15th for points scored per game and 18th for goals per inside 50 metres as well as accuracy. In a bid to improve in this area, the dashing Johannisen is likely to spend more time at half-forward, a role he impressed in on Saturday while booting three goals.
Macrae was arguably the Dogs' most consistent player last year, averaging 27 touches per game. There was not one game where he had less than 20, and he was as busy as ever in the intra-club clash.
Key defender Marcus Adams impressed and appears set to rebound from serious foot injuries, Toby McLean and Bailey Dale were busy, while Mitch Honeychurch would have been delighted a knee complaint that caused him to be helped from the field was said to be nothing major.
Aaron Naughton, the club's top pick in last year's national draft, was composed in defence on a day when it emerged that veteran defender Dale Morris was unlikely to be available until after the mid-season bye because of a knee injury.
Liberatore, the 2014 best and fairest and known for his work under the pack, has worked diligently to become a more rounded player and spread well from the contest.
"Libba has been amazing all pre-season. It's such a weapon when he is hard at the footy. We all know how capable he is when he is at his best," Macrae said.
"You don't want to nit-pick too much at him but, when he completes the whole package he is going to be a pretty special player."
Liberatore has also worked hard to adjust to the requirements required to be consistently elite.
"He has always been a tremendous trainer and hard worker. It's just putting it all together in that 24/7 workload which is hard for anyone on the best of days. We are really looking forward to seeing the best of Libba this season," Macrae said.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/...24-p4z1jx.html

Time to show what we have got starting next Saturday.

Geez Macrae averaged 27 possessions a game last year. The kid is a machine.

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Originally Posted by Twodogs

Geez Macrae averaged 27 possessions a game last year. The kid is a machine.

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If he can kick some goals as well and become damaging he will be elite.

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Originally Posted by bornadog

If he can kick some goals as well and become damaging he will be elite.

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Elite? He'd be better than the Bont!

If the intraclub game on the weekend is any indication, then Macrae about to have another great season.