McCartney: We need patience

[bornadog]

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Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney has a simple message to his club's players and supporters - hang in there.

For the fans, it's about McCartney's conviction that while patience is needed, better times are coming.

To the players, it encapsulates the Dogs' chief ambition this year - be better for longer. That counts for individual matches and the whole season.

The Dogs won five of their first 11 games last year.

But they lost their last 11, most of them thrashings, with the dam generally bursting in the second half.

The Bulldogs' first pre-season under McCartney emphasised strength work and game-learning.

This time there's been more running. Improved fitness measurements indicate it's helping.

But like everything with an inexperienced squad, it's incremental - a fact highlighted by the club's 109-point NAB Cup thrashing at the hands of Fremantle last Saturday night.

"There's only so much work you can do with a very young group of players before they fall apart on you," McCartney said.

To accelerate the process the Dogs added some experience, recruiting Nick Lower (from Fremantle), Tom Young (Collingwood) and Koby Stevens (West Coast), all 25 or younger and with fewer than 50 AFL games' experience.

They also rookie-drafted Adam Goodes' 29-year-old brother Brett from the VFL.

"They do add some body strength and physical strength," McCartney said.

"What we found last year towards the end of the year was, we were probably subjecting some really young players to positions they weren't ready for."

The Dogs also snaffled some bright draft prospects, although they're unlikely to make a great difference immediately.

But one area McCartney wants quick improvement is with his key forwards.

The two most promising, Liam Jones and Ayce Cordy, were inconsistent and managed just 17 goals between them last season, while another prospect Jordan Roughead was moved to defence.

McCartney acknowledged the team's delivery wasn't great and that big men can develop slowly.

"Time ticks though," he said.

"There is an expectation that they have themselves and we have with them that they will produce more.

"The game doesn't wait too long."

Robert Murphy will spend more time in attack, to add polish.

There's no such frustration about the Dogs' young midfielders.

Experienced guns Matthew Boyd and Ryan Griffen are backed by Mitch Wallis, Tom Liberatore and Clay Smith, an emerging trio who have already shown plenty.

They're the kind of tough, contested ball-winners McCartney loves.

They spent much of last year shadowing the game's best players, with McCartney determined to get the defensive aspects of their games locked in.

This season they're expected to not only match those players for longer but hurt them with attack.

"Step two is learning 'I can actually attack at times too and get away from these blokes and make them defend'," McCartney said.

An inexperienced Dogs' defence has become even more so after losing Brian Lake and Ryan Hargrave.

The return of stalwart Dale Morris from severe leg injuries will help enormously, though.

Morris amazed McCartney by immediately throwing himself into danger on return to training.

Equally impressive was his instant impact returning to the field this pre-season, blanketing opponents and encouraging teammates.

"Teammates like that are worth their weight in gold because they don't make it about them," McCartney said.

But while confident the pieces are coming together, McCartney warns supporters there's no quick fix.

"A little bit of time, a little bit of patience, a little bit of understanding - hang in there with us," he said.

[GVGjr]

I think we agree that it's going to take time and development of the list before we see a significant improvement but this whole softly softly approach has a very limited shelf life.

We simply can't accept losses this year like we did last year.

[ledge]

I think we agree that it's going to take time and development of the list before we see a significant improvement but this whole softly softly approach has a very limited shelf life.

We simply can't accept losses this year like we did last year.

We haven't had any in the season proper yet :-)

[AndrewP6]

I don't disagree with the general gist, but it's an awfully hard sell, and with our member numbers in steady decline, people need something to get excited about. The "young bodies" line only stretches so far IMO.

[Go_Dogs]

It's a balanced article.

I like the fact he said "time ticks" - he's going to want to see continued improvement, particularly from our tall forwards, and whilst he's shown patience so far I get the feeling as players get more experience into them he's going to be quite demanding about getting the results.

[Dancin' Douggy]

I don't disagree with the general gist, but it's an awfully hard sell, and with our member numbers in steady decline, people need something to get excited about. The "young bodies" line only stretches so far IMO.

Yeah but what else can you do? Lie?

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Agree with GVG and Griff.

Pleasing to see him acknowledge that time is ticking.

[Topdog]

Yeah but what else can you do? Lie?

Going over old ground again but we were told initially that the playing group didnt need a rebuild, just a refresh.

It is a really hard sell and if we have to cop some smashings this year it would want to be from round 5-15. Need to start the year and end the year well. Need some signs for people to sign up again.

[Maddog37]

Gia, Cross, Boyd and Murph will soon all be gone which pretty much makes it a total rebuild. These things simply cannot happen overnight and I would love to know what the alternative is to the road we are going down.

Do people feel that a differenet coach would be getting better results? (genuine question, not rhetorical)

[Mofra]

"Step two is learning 'I can actually attack at times too and get away from these blokes and make them defend'," McCartney said.

It is a multi-year strategy, despite what some say

[Greystache]

It is a multi-year strategy, despite what some say

Naturally. I struggled to understand why some supporters became so attached to "crack in" as our only tactic. It was only ever the base layer.

McCartney and co decided that the basis of our game was going to be every player being able to win the ball in the contest and be capable one on one. That's a pretty reasonable starting point, especially when a big percentage of the team were young kids. The next step was building team defensive structures, then ball movement patterns, and eventually scoring more. Trying to do everything all at once only dilutes the message.

Yes from a fan's perspective it's frustrating, but a year or two's pain isn't much in the scheme of things, especially if the long term payoff is there. So often short cuts just lead to deficiencies when the team starts its upward stage of the cycle. Even in a painful year the first half wasn't too bad, 5-6 after 11 games with some pretty good performances against good teams. That got lost along the way because the second half of the year was so disappointing.

[Mofra]

Yes from a fan's perspective it's frustrating, but a year or two's pain isn't much in the scheme of things, especially if the long term payoff is there. So often short cuts just lead to deficiencies when the team starts its upward stage of the cycle. Even in a painful year the first half wasn't too bad, 5-6 after 11 games with some pretty good performances against good teams. That got lost along the way because the second half of the year was so disappointing.

We did show flashes in the second half - the Sydney game for example.

The other issue isn't simply being patient with the players, it's that outside of the midfield we have such an unsettled line up. Whilst "competition for spots" always sounds good, a settled line up that allows players to anticipate the running patterns of teammates tends to be where a team can increase their effectiveness. Eade settled a defensive 6 pretty early, I'd suspect McCartney will try to do the same thing this year.
The midfield should sort itself out in some respects, the F50 is wide open and will be in the medium term I suspect.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Naturally. I struggled to understand why some supporters became so attached to "crack in" as our only tactic. It was only ever the base layer.

McCartney and co decided that the basis of our game was going to be every player being able to win the ball in the contest and be capable one on one. That's a pretty reasonable starting point, especially when a big percentage of the team were young kids. The next step was building team defensive structures, then ball movement patterns, and eventually scoring more. Trying to do everything all at once only dilutes the message.

Yes from a fan's perspective it's frustrating, but a year or two's pain isn't much in the scheme of things, especially if the long term payoff is there. So often short cuts just lead to deficiencies when the team starts its upward stage of the cycle. Even in a painful year the first half wasn't too bad, 5-6 after 11 games with some pretty good performances against good teams. That got lost along the way because the second half of the year was so disappointing.

I believe McCartney is the right person for the times and as you have suggested it is going to take time.We look better placed this season with the return of Morris and a fitter Cooney. Our key forwards is a concern with Jones needing desperately more support. The emergence of Roughead as a key defender is a real bonus and he should enjoy a good year. There now appears to be more support for Griffen and Boyd in the midfield and we can expect more improvement from the likes of Liberatore and Smith.Stevens Lower Goodes and Young look to be reasonable draft picks and a big improvement on those who have been dropped off the list.

[F'scary]

It's a balanced article.

I like the fact he said "time ticks" - he's going to want to see continued improvement, particularly from our tall forwards, and whilst he's shown patience so far I get the feeling as players get more experience into them he's going to be quite demanding about getting the results.

Tall forwards. Only one of those words applies to Ayce Cordy.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Naturally. I struggled to understand why some supporters became so attached to "crack in" as our only tactic. It was only ever the base layer.

McCartney and co decided that the basis of our game was going to be every player being able to win the ball in the contest and be capable one on one. That's a pretty reasonable starting point, especially when a big percentage of the team were young kids. The next step was building team defensive structures, then ball movement patterns, and eventually scoring more. Trying to do everything all at once only dilutes the message.

Yes from a fan's perspective it's frustrating, but a year or two's pain isn't much in the scheme of things, especially if the long term payoff is there. So often short cuts just lead to deficiencies when the team starts its upward stage of the cycle. Even in a painful year the first half wasn't too bad, 5-6 after 11 games with some pretty good performances against good teams. That got lost along the way because the second half of the year was so disappointing.

Hopefully the club sticks behind McCartney and realises that it's going to take a while to get to where we want to be, considering the experience and talent we've lost from 09-11.

I think McCartney's philosophy on how to build a team is very sound. What I am uncertain of is whether he's a good match day coach, and this is the area that he'll need to personally show improvement in.