Bulldogs to make tweaks in search of first win

SOUTH Fremantle coach Paul Hasleby is confident that with some fine tuning to the Bulldogs' discipline, ball use going inside-50, tackling and defensive structures that they can bounce back from two tough to swallow losses to open the 2014 WAFL season.

The Bulldogs came into 2014 expected to be one of the competition's big improvers having been out of finals action since 2011 with a combination of strong recruiting, key players returning and a strong group of young players ready to take the competition by storm.

However, things didn’t get off to the ideal start with a 38-point loss to Subiaco in Round 1 at Leederville's Medibank Stadium despite the Bulldogs having more possessions, inside-50 entries and shots on goal.

South Fremantle then started on fire last Friday night racing out to a 44-point lead early in the second quarter at Fremantle Oval against Perth in Kris Miller's 300th game of WAFL football.

However, the Demons eventually whittled down that deficit to end up winning by five points.

Hasleby isn’t hiding behind the fact that those two losses have been disappointing, but is confident of things turning around starting this Friday night back at Fremantle Oval against the so-far unbeaten East Perth. 

"It has obviously been disappointing results the first two weeks particularly on Friday night when we were up by over 40 points early on in the game," Hasleby said.

"That was very disappointing and a hard pill to swallow, but it's Round 2, we've played some good footy and been in winning positions so the boys have to keep on going forward, and the wins will come."

Last Friday night, Hasleby felt that one or maybe two more goals early in the second term when 44 points up and the game could have been over, but the Bulldogs couldn’t slam the door shut on Perth and that was after only managing nine goals from 65 inside 50s and 28 scoring shots against Subiaco.

"There are just times in games when we need a bit of composure and class. We had Perth on the ropes but couldn’t put them away in that second quarter when the game was there for us to take it away from them," he said.

"And in the first game, we went inside-50 65 times but they couldn’t execute on the scoreboard. We've had missed opportunities and when the opposition gets a run on, we need to improve and we have come up with a few strategies this week to try and remedy those situations."

Coughing up high tackles has always been an area of concern over the first two rounds and Hasleby hopes that is something they can quickly fix, especially with Ashton Hams in their team showing them how to draw high tackles.

"We just have to get smarter with the way we tackle. We have given away 12 goals over the first two games either from 50 metres or from poor tackling techniques," Hasleby said.

"We have done some work on that and the boys have to get a bit smarter and a lot of players are experts at drawing free-kicks from high tackles. We've got one of them in our own team called Ashton Hams and we have to get a bit smarter with the way we tackle the opposition."

Former Adelaide and Melbourne recruit James Sellar has started quite well in the ruck this season for South Fremantle, and Hasleby does expect to use him in different roles and not just in the middle as the year rolls on.

"We'll keep mixing it up with James. The great thing about him is that he has versatility and he can play in the forward-line to take a mark, can play in the ruck and he has spent the last couple of years as a key defender," he said.

"It will depend a bit on the situation of the game we are coming into, but he is a great asset for us to have and will only continue to get better. He has started off quite well, but I think he has a great upside."

Brock Higgins has been helping out Sellar in the ruck and finding his feet for the Bulldogs as he now prepares to play against his former team East Perth for the first time this Friday night.

Hasleby is confident the duo as a ruck pair will only continue to develop better relationships with the midfielders as the season rolls on as well.

"Brock hasn’t been too bad either. He and James complement each other and Brock is more of a grunter and gives us that physicality and hardness where James has the ability to spread and cut the opposition up a little bit more," Hasleby said.

"We are going to need both of them throughout the year and it's an area we identified we needed to improve in, and that's why we brought in so many tall players into our squad.

"As they develop more chemistry with midfielders like Cook, Hams, Kelly and Schloithe I think they are only going to get better with the centre bounce work."

By Chris Pike