Garry Lyon has expressed disappointment at Western Bulldogs defender Jason Johannisen’s lack of desire to fight the heavy attention placed on him in their poor 46-point loss to Sydney on Thursday night.

Johannisen managed only nine possessions at the SCG for a dismal 170 metres gained, with Swans tagger George Hewett blanketing the 2016 Norm Smith Medallist.

Sydney’s seemed determined to rustle up the 24-year-old from the outset of the game, and their heavy attention resulted in the normally free-running Dogs defence being halted by the brick wall that was the Swans’ forward press and contested pressure.

Lyon says that if Johannisen continues to fail to stand-up while being targeted, other teams will exploit this weakness to cripple one of the Bulldogs’ core strengths.

“You make your own bed, so guess what’s happening to JJ next week?” he said on SEN Breakfast.

“What would frustrate Bulldogs supporters is the lack of fight and resistance. There seemed to be an acceptance from Johannisen and as the game wore on it seemed to be 'Oh well, they’re into me, I’m not having a great game. Therefore, it is what it is.'

“That’s what disappoints me. You want to see a reaction.”

Another major talking point stemming from the game will be coach Luke Beveridge’s decision to play a tall side in the slippery conditions instead of bringing in inside midfielder Tom Liberatore, who remains stuck in the club’s VFL outfit.

Nearly every single Dogs tall was ineffective against the Swans, with second-game ruckman Tim English and key forwards Travis Cloke and Jake Stringer all providing little to the contest.

While Tim Watson wasn’t critical of Beveridge’s decision not to select Liberatore, he instead wonders just why the club’s leading contested ball winner from 2016 isn’t hitting the side’s expected standards this year.

“If there was ever a game that was set up for player like Tom Liberatore, it was the conditions of the ground last night, the wet and that combative style of football the Swans were playing,” he said.

“You ask yourself the question ‘Why isn’t he out there? Why hasn’t (Beveridge) been able to find the right lever to pull with Tom Liberatore to get him into the right frame of mind to play the way we want him to play?”

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2017/06/...pointing-lyon/