Dogs coach urges players to support linchpin
WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has challenged his players to banish their “spasmodic” form and provide greater support for Aaron Naughton.
The Bulldogs have struggled with inconsistency and will gun for back-to-back victories for the first time this season – 10 rounds in – against inform Gold Coast in Ballarat on Saturday. After starting the season with defeats to top-four teams Melbourne and Carlton, Beveridge’s men have gone win-loss ever since.
“It’s notable we haven’t had any momentum beyond one week, and that, in many ways, has been a bit disconcerting,” the coach said.
“We’re obviously not overly happy with the fact that our formline has been spasmodic, so that’s our intention to start to pile a couple of wins on top of each other, and who knows where that might head?
“But there’s no better week to do it than round 10.”
As Beveridge previously pointed out, the Dogs have been mostly competitive in defeat, with three of them by 17 points or fewer. But one area he wants to see improvement in is the spread of goalkickers, so as to have less reliance on power forward Aaron Naughton,
whose 22 goals are 10 more than the next-best teammate, Cody Weightman.
On that front, Beveridge was buoyed to see Adam Treloar – who will play his 200th match against the Suns – Buku Khamis and Josh Dunkley join Naughton in kicking three goals each in last week’s 48point win over Collingwood.
Son-of-a-gun Rhylee West also earned praise for his 16 disposals and five tackles in a forward role.
“We had 10 goalkickers against Essendon (in round 7) and Aaron Naughton didn’t kick one of those – he created some – and you win the game,” he said.