Glenn McFarlane
From: Sunday Herald Sun
May 07, 2011
FRUSTRATED Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade said he was prepared to be brutal at the selection table for a second successive week after yesterday's eight-point loss to Sydney in Canberra.
Eade claimed the Bulldogs' inconsistent performance this year was more mental than physical, saying it was too easy to blame consecutive six-day breaks for the club's form.
The Bulldogs have only won two games in the first seven rounds, with those victories coming against Gold Coast and Brisbane.
Asked if he planned to be brutal ahead of Sunday's crucial clash with Richmond, Eade said: "We've got to be ... it doesn't matter who it is, if they can't play the role or do what they're expected to do, we've got to be able to find people who can."
The Bulldogs made four changes for the Swans match, including dropping three players including All-Australian Brian Lake.
He promised more changes this week, with Barry Hall, Shaun Higgins and Tom Liberatore possible inclusions against the Tigers.
"We're going to make some changes, no doubt," he said. "Hall and Higgins will be right next week, so they'll certainly be in. Young Libba (Liberatore) should be OK, so there's three and there might be some debutants. We made four (changes) for this game, so we're not afraid to make some changes."
Eade said the stuttering start to the season came from a lack of willingness to work hard. "Obviously it's a bit mental. It's just work rate," he said.
"We just got outworked in the second and third quarters. In the third quarter it was horrendous, and with the lack of work rate, obviously skills can drop off.
"We've just got to find players who are prepared to work and work consistently. That's why young (Lucas) Markovic's done extremely well, because he's prepared to give a contest and he works, even if he's exhausted. We haven't got enough players who are doing that."
He said the Bulldogs didn't deserve to win yesterday's game, despite kicking the first three goals of the game and finishing strongly in the last term to turn a 26-point deficit into an eight-point defeat.
"In the last quarter we probably had our chances to win. We didn't deserve to win but we had our chances and again, we need to be able to take those chances, but that's not the issue."
Ben Hudson was subbed out of the game midway through the third term to try to bring more run into the team, but debutant Zeph Skinner had marginal impact.
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