"That influenced the way that we played" - Western Bulldogs see off Western Sydney on Saturday, dedicate victory to recently retired teammate
The Western Bulldogs dedicated their performance against the Giants on Saturday (May 18) afternoon to recently retired teammate Aiden O'Driscoll.
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge, speaking on the team’s performance following their 27-point (70-43) victory over the GWS Giants, dedicated their field-excellence to recently retired draftee Aiden O’Driscoll.
Due to a concussion sustained during a pre-season training match in January, O'Driscoll was advised to retire at the age of 18 without a single AFL match to his name.
During warm-up, Western Bulldogs key forward Aaron Naughton donned a t-shirt with O'Driscoll’s name and number (No. 37) emblazoned behind to show his respect to the 2023 draftee who had lived with him during his first month at the club.
Coach Beveridge also mentioned some special occasions for the club including veteran Taylor Duryea playing his 200th match, and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Liam Jones lining up in Sir Doug Nicholls Round, which inspired the team.
"I feel like tonight, with the retirement of Aiden O'Driscoll, forced retirement due to the concussion side of things, that our boys just took a little bit of that out with them," he said at the press conference. "More just to celebrate the fact that we're playing together and there's opportunities week to week to enjoy the game if we gel and contribute like your best teammates will.
"I think that's important for Aiden to know that his teammates really felt pretty emotional about him this week more than ever. I feel like that influenced the way that we played too," he added.
"I don't think our connection going forward was really strong” - GWS coach Kingsley laments about the Giants' loss to the Western Bulldogs
Set on a 47-37 advantage in clearances, the Bulldogs were no doubt in control of the match against the Giants. They made some profitable risks early on in the game, steadying to an 8.22 finish to the Giants' 6.7.
Bulldogs coach Beveridge expressed the need for thorough capitalisation against a stellar opponent like the Giants.
"Particularly against a team like the Giants, if you're not capitalising, you feel like it could cost you," he said. "I think we hit that left goal post six times tonight, and there were seven rushed behinds as well. Those big things are sometimes really important, but to our players' credit they held their nerve.”
Adam Kingsley, GWS Giants coach, did not blame his forwards for the club’s poor performance which marked a new low in his career as coach, even though spearhead Jesse Hogan and skipper Toby Greene were the only players to find the goals, both managing three. Hogan’s all were in the first half and Greene’s first was the opener of the match and the last two were in the second half.
With the Bulldogs ruling with 62-41 inside 50s, the Giants found it impossible kickstart their 'orange tsunami' running game, especially when coming out of defense. Coach Kingsley told reporters post-game:
"I don't think our connection going forward was really strong, and add to that we didn't get the ball forward anywhere near often enough. That has an impact on everyone. The Bulldogs defended us really well, they were able to get the ball in their half and lock it in far better than what we did. If you don't really provide the supply, it's going to be difficult to really capitalise."