Marcus Bontempelli, the captain of the Western Bulldogs, says the team’s primary goal is to get off to a strong start each season.
The Bulldogs defeated Hawthorn by 57 points in their AAMI Community Series practise match over the weekend, and their captain is confident that this performance will prepare them well for Sunday week’s season opener against Melbourne.
At the Bulldog
“You can definitely start the season in the right way if you can create opportunities and get good results early on, and you’re also not under the pump chasing,” the author says.
“I believe the game this past weekend was a little bit of that. We’ve always been a team that likes to start games well and start the season well.
“Every club may approach the practice match with a different goal in mind, such as load management or saving players for the first round, but particularly during the previous four or five years, we haven’t had that mentality.
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In addition, Bontempelli stated that following some discouraging stretches in 2023, the club hopes to increase its consistency in the field this year.
“We’ve tried to best equip ourselves to play the game and the style of game we want to play for longer throughout the off-season and pre-season, but I can understand that our form and consistency haven’t been where we’ve wanted in the last couple of years,” he added.
“We were able to be pretty potent at times in the first halves of some games last year, but we may not have been able to sustain it in other games,” the player said. Naturally, our standing on the ladder was also impacted by the close defeats from the previous season.
s Blitz on Tuesday morning, Bontempelli said to SEN Breakfast, “I mean it’s ultimately a focus every season – you never want to be, unfortunately as we’ve done in the past, sort of chasing down the madding pack in terms of where our ladder position sits.”
“In terms of our makeup and athletic skill set, I firmly think that we’re in a stronger position than we were the previous season. I believe it was somewhat evident in the Saturday game that we played.
“I’m looking forward to what the season has in store for us, which obviously includes trying to improve in a lot of areas. We’re hoping it will help us move up the ladder.
