Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin and Luke Beveridge speak after the Bulldogs’ 51-point victory on Friday night at Marvel Stadium.
Simon Goodwin
Q: How disappointing was that?
Goodwin: It was really disappointing. Obviously, the start was incredibly disappointing. To be on the back foot like that, they dominated us around the ball and were able to score way too easily. I was incredibly frustrated with the way we started the game. There were patches that we were able to bring back into the game we were looking for, but overall nowhere near the level required to beat a team that is in very, very good form.
Q: What are you noticing that is going wrong at the start of matches?
Goodwin: Our clearance game hasn’t been anywhere near the level for a period of time now, especially against really dominant midfield groups. We’ve seen a lack of our ability to win clearance, pressure the opposition to a level to get the game back into a scramble, which is really important around contest areas. It’s a big part of our game we need to work on moving forward. Some of that might be personnel, but there is enough personnel there to get it right.
Q: Do you have an update on Steven May? We saw him get into an ambulance.
Goodwin: Yeah, he’s got some ribs, so obviously we will get them looked at. We’ll get him assessed and just look at where that sits. He’ll go away and get precautionary scans, check everything, make sure everything is right with Steve. Fingers crossed he’s OK.
Luke Beveridge
Q: Is that the best form you have been in since the grand final year of 2021?
Beveridge: It’s pretty close to it, I think. I haven’t got a great recollection of the scorelines over periods where we have strung some wins together. But I think the combination in our game and in our game style and keeping the opposition to low scores and us being able to hit the scoreboard, it would probably have to be the best patch I would say.
Q: Simon just spoke about the inability of his side to win contest and lose territory. How impressive was it from your end?
Beveridge: Yeah, it’s been a bit of a constant with us. It’s part of your reputation that you are pretty solid in close, and then if you can win it either side of the stoppage, then it means that whoever comes to play against you is in for a tough night. If they are going to beat you, they have got to bring their armoury. I think that’s been one area – either side of the stoppage – that we have been pretty good at. Tonight was a bit different in that it wasn’t a huge intercept marking game, so there’s a lot of ground ball, not a lot of composure, it was quite frenetic. Maybe that fuelled some things for us to kick a lot of points at different times. But that’s a starting point for any team, to be good at that, to have necessary craft, but to have the volition to put your bodies in at the coalface where there is a lot of heat. And our boys are doing it extraordinarily well at the moment.
