Dogs go on Power trip
RETURNING to the scene of his team’s preliminary final belting of Port Adelaide last year will bring good memories and confidence to Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge.
But on Friday night, his side hits Adelaide Oval only having been “solid enough”, still searching for the brilliant football that propelled the Bulldogs to a 71-point win over Port last September and into the grand final.
Ruckman Tim English and defender Alex Keath are “fit and strong” and in line to return from injury and Beveridge said his team would have to “find a freshness” in its approach after a stop-start 2022 that has left them with a negative win-loss record and outside the top eight.
“The external narrative and questions marks over ‘why aren’t the Bulldogs winning every week?’ I get them, I understand,” he said on Thursday.
“There’s an expectation … but it’s still round 8 and we can only take care of the now and what’s immediate.
“We’ve been solid enough without winning. We still have been encouraged by a lot of what we’ve done.
“The defensive system is strong, stoppage stuff is highend, turnover game we haven’t been able to capitalise, we’ve seen some good signs.”
The Bulldogs kicked 16.7 last week against Essendon, turning around some inefficiency in front of goal that saw them kick 7.19 in a loss to Richmond. Port also kicked 5.13 in a one-point win over St Kilda last weekend in Cairns and Beveridge said with wet weather predicted in Adelaide on Friday night, both teams might have to find a “different way” to score.
“That turnover game will be really important for both clubs. I don’t think there will be the fluency we saw last weekend at Marvel (against Essendon),” he said.
“So we might have to do it a bit of a different way.”
The Bulldogs will have to do it without Mitch Wallis, who will be sidelined for up to two weeks with a foot injury that Beveridge said was “jointy not bony” but painful for the veteran.
“Anything to do with the feet you have to be careful. We don’t want it to flare up into something it shouldn’t,” he said.
“We are trying different things to stabilise it. It’s jointy rather than bony but it’s really painful. Hopefully he doesn’t need much longer than one or two weeks out.”