THEY MAY have lost by nine points, but those in the Western Bulldogs’ rooms were anything but dejected after yesterday’s match against the Crows at AAMI Stadium.
The reason? The wait is over – and momentum is building.
The Bulldogs have known since round 18 – or even a few weeks before that according to coach Rodney Eade – that they had a top-three spot sewn up and would be meeting Hawthorn in week one of the finals. They have spent the interim in what Eade calls “a holding pattern”.
It’s a situation which has left the Bulldogs prone to concentration lapses. But it’s also allowed them time to top up their fitness base. And to plot.
Defender Dale Morris acknowledges the struggle – and the benefits.
“Yeah, it’s a very unique situation,” Morris, 25, said after the Adelaide game.
“It’s allowed us to prepare (for Hawthorn), but by the same token it’s allowed them to prepare for us as well.
“All the teams in that top three would have done added training to get their fitness base up for the finals (and) to make sure they’re still running out games. Because as the season gets on, your fitness does tend to just drop a little bit.
“But we’ve never gone into a game not wanting to win. We always go out to do our best. But in that period we haven’t been playing that well – maybe the other teams have wanted it more because it was life or death for them.
“(Today) it didn’t make a difference to us; it made a big difference to Adelaide. It’s not like we didn’t want to win; we wanted to win, but for us it was more about taking momentum into the finals.
“We’ve needed to get back to what we were doing in the first half of the season.”
Which is where the Adelaide match fit perfectly into the plan, according to Morris.
“We know it’s something that you just can’t just ‘turn on’. You’ve got to build to that higher intensity and get some momentum," he said.
“Today was another step in the right direction; there’s still a few more steps to go, but it’s definitely the direction we want to be headed.
“The conditions were a bit tricky out there. It was definitely a finals-type atmosphere and the game was played at a rapid pace, that’s for sure. It really helps to acclimatise for finals with these sorts of games.
“We’ll now just put this one in the memory bank, recover, and get set for Hawthorn. Hopefully we’ll be peaking at the right time.
“We’re certainly going to be giving it a red-hot go and keeping the intensity up like it was today, plus a bit more.”
