Eade proud of Dogs despite loss

[bornadog]

By Chris Pike

WESTERN Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade was proud of his team's effort despite a nail-biting seven-point loss to Fremantle on Monday night at Patersons Stadium.

The Dogs came into the round five clash following a 16-day break since their previous outing against the Brisbane Lions, and managed to overcome a slow start to surge to a 14-point lead in the second quarter.

The visitors then looked down and out when Fremantle took a 20-point advantage midway through the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs hung tough and took the lead in the frantic final minutes only to be denied by a Nick Lower goal inside the last 60 seconds.

It was a see-sawing, tight and tense battle all night, with both sides struggling with the heavy dew and a slippery ball. While never happy to lose, Eade couldn’t fault the effort of his players even though several mistakes ultimately proved costly.

"There were a lot of positives out of it, there's no doubt, and I was proud of their commitment and courage. As a coach that's all you can ask," Eade said.

"There were some mistakes, but our structures were good and they adhered to most of those. We just made some silly mistakes at the wrong time and didn’t convert when we should have."

Matthew Boyd was inspirational with 45 possessions, and the Dogs’ skipper also restricted the influence of Fremantle counterpart Matthew Pavlich. Eade couldn’t speak more highly of Boyd’s effort.

"There were other players as well, but he obviously led from the front,” Eade said of his captain.

“When Pavlich was getting on top early he went onto him and I thought he was able to quell his dominance to a degree and win the footy himself.

"We were hard at it, our tackling was really good and our commitment to the contest was terrific. All those indicators were very good for us and we probably won most of those, or were high up in our targets, but unfortunately couldn’t quite ice the game."

Eade was forced into an unplanned substitute, with debutant Mitch Wallis coming on at three-quarter time for key defender Tom Williams, who was suffering with back spasms.

The Dogs will return to Melbourne to take on the undefeated Collingwood outfit next Sunday, and Eade says some of his players, including Williams and Barry Hall, are battling sore bodies.

"He (Williams) went into back spasm at half-time, and we were planning to sub another player and put Mitch on earlier but with Tommy we couldn’t. We rotated him three or four times in the third quarter, and left him on the bench a bit longer each time but we had to make the call," Eade said.

"He was struggling to run. We just have to recover well, and they've (Collingwood) got a six-day break as well so there's no excuses there. We'll probably have three or four changes because a few players are a bit sore, but we'll just wait and see."
for westernbulldogs.com.au

[LostDog]

typical from eade, always accept 2nd best

[Ghost Dog]

typical from eade, always accept 2nd best

sure it would have been good to win. But not all doom and gloom lostdog.

[Maddog37]

Better to build the players belief and confidence than slaughter them and ruin their self worth.

Maybe we should just line them all up against the wall and shoot them.

[LostDoggy]

By Chris Pike

WESTERN Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade was proud of his team's effort despite a nail-biting seven-point loss to Fremantle on Monday night at Patersons Stadium.

"As a coach that's all you can ask," Eade said.

It's his job I guess?

[LostDoggy]

Bet he said differently to the players after game.
Not good PR to be negative to press after such a tight game.

[ratsmac]

Better to build the players belief and confidence than slaughter them and ruin their self worth.

Maybe we should just line them all up against the wall and shoot them.

Well said Maddog. I was bitterly disappointed with the loss, but the boys put in a super effort against what seems to be a top 6 team at their home ground straight after the bye.
I'm upset but pleased with the direction we are headed in with this team that has made some changes with blooding some young players. We will get better. Our defence has changed a fair bit and is still reasonably solid which is a great sign.

[Cyberdoggie]

typical from eade, always accept 2nd best

You really think it would make any sense for him to tear strips off them for losing coming into a Collingwood game after a short break and a trip from WA?

[LostDoggy]

You really think it would make any sense for him to tear strips off them for losing coming into a Collingwood game after a short break and a trip from WA?

Well said, I'm sure Eade perhaps said a few things differently behind closed doors, but he needs to walk a fine line between berrating them and stripping away their confidence and ensuring he keeps them on their toes mentally for the tough game (s) ahead. I don't for a moment think he accepts second best.....

[LostDoggy]

The one positive thing I took from this game was that the players showed a great deal of resilience when they were 20 points down at the start of the last quarter. Fair enough there are some issues with structure, game plan, skills etc, but from recent memory I cant remember when we have fought back like that whilst playing in a hostile stadium.

It also seemed to me that once Hall had gone off, the fwd line functioned better as the midfield were not so one dimensional with their kicking into the fwd 50. Also, couldnt stand the fact that at different times we broke the lines to look upfield to the fwd50 and not see one target, then go in circles to allow other to get into position. Why do they all get sucked up the ground, surely someone must stay around the goal square to provide some sort of target?

[Ozza]

Why do they all get sucked up the ground, surely someone must stay around the goal square to provide some sort of target?

Usually it is because the midfielders/wings get too far into defence - which means their opponents are left creating a wall of players in the space - and then our forwards have to push up to the wing to man them up.

Personally - I think the midfielders need to let the defenders, defend (within reason) - and stay out of our defensive 50 and give us options on the way out.

[LostDoggy]

Usually it is because the midfielders/wings get too far into defence - which means their opponents are left creating a wall of players in the space - and then our forwards have to push up to the wing to man them up. Personally - I think the midfielders need to let the defenders, defend (within reason) - and stay out of our defensive 50 and give us options on the way out.

Make sense Ozza, how do we combat that? A lot of teams now score due to getting the ball over the back and running into open goals. It may be wise to always leave a player slightly closer to goal to allow for this type of opening. As long as they are between the last defender and the goal it should give them an advantage. My word, its starting to sound like soccer and trying to "get behind" the defence with a long ball over the top.

[azabob]

There are known knowns and there are unknown knowns.

One thing we know is that in public Eade says pretty much the same thing after a loss to another top team.

One thing we don't know is what he says behind closed doors. Personally I hope the message is a little different.

[LostDoggy]

You really think it would make any sense for him to tear strips off them for losing coming into a Collingwood game after a short break and a trip from WA?

It was a crunch game, we could possibly be looking at 2-4 to start the season. Then after we play Richmond & WCE, we come up against Hawthorn, Geelong & St Kilda three weeks in a row.

The game against Freo was huge.

[Swoop]

I can't help but get the sense that his own job security is in the back of his mind when he makes comments like this, it was a big game for us with a big build up, he should quite rightly be disappointed not proud and those sentitments should be shared with the public not dealt with in-house.