Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge spoke to the media after the game...
Q: First of all, commiserations on the loss. How did you assess the game?
A: Oh, it’s important to start off and give credit to Fremantle, and congratulate them on an elimination final win. You know, in the end, after being up by so much, it was death by 1000 cuts, really. We went away from some things that had served us well in the early parts of the game and then Fremantle got a little bit better at some of the things they weren’t doing so well, and as much as our guys hung in there and, you know, sort of persevered through a period, Josh Dunkley lays those early tackles in the third quarter just to give us some momentum and the pressure was back up, but ultimately, you know, it’s...you know, significant disappointment. It’s an opportunity missed, and Fremantle have earned a look at another final.
Q: At what point did you sense that the momentum had shifted significantly and you guys were in a bit of trouble?
A: Oh, you know, to keep them to a very little score for most of the first half, and then we...you know, the first couple (goals), you know, sort of probably gifted to them by some things that we didn’t do well. We were taking territory well under pressure. We were making good decisions throughout the course of that early part of the first half, and then they kicked a forward-50 stoppage goal, where there was a significant breakdown, which we’d been pretty diligent with over the journey and obviously, then, you know, the gap is reduced by a significant amount and we’ve lost that edge on the scoreboard. So going into half-time, it was no secret that we needed to stabilise it, and yeah, they just chipped away and just, in the end, they were just the better side for the length of the game.
Q: How did you get around the fact that your last two finals now, you’ve been in a position where you’ve been in a winning position and then an avalanche of goals from the opposition has taken it away from you?
A: I think it’s dangerous comparing this one to last year’s grand final. I mean, that was...all the adjectives have been attached to it but tonight was different, and, you know, what was the scoreline in the end? How many points did they get, in the 70s, and for all the inside 50s, for a period, for a lengthy period of the game, we were defending OK but then it was the kicks across the face of our forward line, it was the breakdowns in that situation, and drop of ball in our open 50 which we opened the whole open side of the ground, which we planned not to do. It gave them that momentum. Look, we’re chipping away at consistency with decision making, and execution with the ball, and that’s been as much a problem as the defensive aspect. So we got a lot of that right early and then we got it incorrect for large periods of the second half, and that’s as blunt as I can be, and you can probably find some other things in there, but, yeah, what was it, we were up by 40, it’s a significant swing and it’s bloody disappointing.
Q: Did you think your blokes got rattled a bit like the fight on the boundary line, five of your guys versus two of them, they win a clearance, get the ball. Then you have the 50m penalty, bloke on the mark tries to replace him, Logue gets two goals which ended up being the margin in the end. Do you think they got rattled at different moments like that?
A: I don’t think our players got rattled at all but they were significant moments that helped Fremantle win the game. We’ve been a pretty disciplined side over the journey, but wanting to go and fly the flag over the boundary in that situation, you know, there was no doubt that the ball was going to be thrown in. So it was just a...it was a brain fade by all the guys that went in there. So, yeah, there was that, and obviously the one against Toby (McLean), the 50, I didn’t see the subtlety in it where he came from. If it was there, it was there, but you know, I think the more concerning things were the kicks across the face of our forward line, and our inability to keep the ball in there in those situations than those, but they’re still things that shouldn’t have happened.
Q: I imagine the mood in the rooms is pretty flat. What’s the message? What can you say to them after the game?
A: Yeah, well, it’s...it’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it, because it’s difficult to talk after such a disappointment. There’s a lot of work that goes in by all clubs to try and get an opportunity to play final, and then, you know, there’s an inner...a really strong inner belief that we can do better, you know. And the players are sitting there knowing that, you know, at the end of the day, we believe we’re more capable than dropping the game tonight. So there’s that disappointment. What do I do with it? You know, I’m a supportive shroud for the players more than anything, from a life and a professional sport point of view. So it’s important that we struck a balance in there. We talked about what we can control, you know, outside of or inside our four walls, inside our inner sanctum and there are things that we can’t, but ultimately, there’s a discussion around stimulus for next year, and what that means to propel us into a pre-season, which we like, you know. I like hearing that from the players, because it’s difficult to talk after, you know, such a disappointing experience like tonight. But we’ll collect ourselves and we’ll process it a little bit more on Wednesday.