Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge talked to the media after their 37-point loss to the Crows at Adelaide Oval.
On whether he was frustrated by losing the clearances at stoppages …
We’ve been pretty good in that area in recent times and credit to the Crows, I think the ratio of kick to handball by their individuals was a lot more on the kick side and comparatively, we handballed a fair bit out of there. That’s partly due to Crows pressure, but we had a plan to get it on the boot a bit more, that didn’t unfold unfortunately so we are a bit frustrated by that.
On not taking the chances on goal in the first half …
When it went into our forward line the Crows defence just looked a bit too strong, they won the on-on-ones and stifled our opportunities probably too easily. We knew we had missed out on some chances and whether or not we were going to reproduce them in the second half, it was a question mark and we didn’t produce enough. The Crows kicked the ball 10 metres further than us, obviously, definitely took their opportunities when they had them.
On how their defence went ...
Our backs held up pretty well after quarter time, we gave them their first two goals from miss-kicks or kicks that were either smothered or intercepted very close to the player and they just got us out the back close to goal. We charged their batteries early, on a hostile ground and that is not a good start.
On the physicality of the game …
I think both sides would walk away and say that they definitely got us from a power and a one-on-one perspective. Ultimately, the Crows were just too good for us, that was the bottom line tonight.
