WESTERN Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney lamented his players' lack of self-belief in their heavy loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday.
On the back of last week's inspiring win over Collingwood, the Bulldogs fired early against the ladder-leaders and trailed by just 12 points at half-time.
But the game was as one-sided as it could be in the second half, with the Power booting 12 goals to three and cruising to a 72-point win.
"It looked like there was a lack of belief at times, [we didn't want to] fight to the death in this next contest'," McCartney said.
"That was the most disappointing thing… you've just got to hang in there.
"Our effort and our application in the second half got exposed.
"There was still only two goals the difference at half-time against a fired-up Port Adelaide on their home deck – it was a disappointing second half that's for sure."
The loss was soured further by injuries to key players, including skipper Ryan Griffen.
Griffen was subbed out of the game at half-time in obvious pain, dealing with back spasms that left him struggling to walk un-aided.
Jarrad Grant was concussed and Jordan Roughead injured his shoulder.
"There's some bumps and bruises, they went after us pretty physically," McCartney said.
The Bulldogs coach also went into bat for veteran Daniel Giansiracusa, who was reported on a rough conduct charge for a late hit on Port's Jared Polec.
Giansiracusa looks likely to spend time on the sidelines for the incident, particularly considering his carry-over points from his bump on Adelaide star Patrick Dangerfield earlier in the season.
"There's a lot of incidents in a game of footy where you just, if you could have that half a second back you'd do it a bit differently," McCartney said.
"He's a competitive man, he's been a great Western Bulldogs person for a long time and he's still really important to us game day and during the week.
"It's a one-off incident that I'm sure he didn't mean…he's competitive but he's not malicious."
