‘Pretty sh**ty’: Dogs’ raw reaction to ‘tough’ week… and the ‘guiding light’ leading the way

Cody Weightman needed just two words to describe the past week: “pretty sh**ty”.

After being heavily scrutinised externally, the Western Bulldogs righted the wrongs of last Friday’s disenchanting loss to Essendon — thrashing St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night.

The desperately-needed triumph moves the Dogs to 3-3 on the season and alleviates some pressure off senior coach Luke Beveridge, who has spent days firmly in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

Watch every game of every round this Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today >

After questions were fired thick and fast at Beveridge about his personnel decisions and the club’s short and long-term future, the Bulldogs responded with their actions on Thursday in a convincing effort.

“I think the monkey’s off the back for eight days, which is nice,” Weightman told Fox Footy’s Brad Johnson post-game on Thursday.

“Last week was pretty sh**ty, so it’ll be good to feel a little relaxed, but I don’t think we’ll be getting off the pedal because we’re going to have to go again, obviously.

“Every team’s good this year, so (Beveridge will) probably keep us a little bit on edge and ready to go for next week.”

The Dogs’ win was categorical; they out-possessed the Saints with ease (+75), were +10 in inside-50s, 10 per cent more efficient with ball in hand, had 65 more uncontested possessions and were +7 in centre clearances.

“They’ve kept opposition teams to really low scores this year, and we scouted that coming in,” said Weightman, who booted three goals from nine touches.

“We thought, maybe, as forwards it might’ve been a quiet night, but it was good to see ‘Naughts’ (Aaron Naughton) and a few of the boys get on the end of it and hit the scoreboard.”

Skipper Marcus Bontempelli — who was one of numerous star-performing Bulldogs, recording 24 disposals to go along with three goals and 399 metres gained — acknowledged the difficulty in emerging with a clean slate after last week’s ugly showing.

“The initial (feeling) is relief,” Bontempelli told Fox Footy on Thursday evening.

“It was a tough week, naturally. Coming out of last (week) we were pretty disappointed and that’s part of the game. You’ve got to be able to process the emotion of not fronting up and playing in what was a really important game (against Essendon).

“(Tonight is) a small step in the right direction — that’s how we’ve got to view it — and we’ll enjoy the emotion that comes with winning a game like that on a Thursday night and hopefully bridge that into another.”

Bontempelli described the Dogs’ six-day break between games as a veiled “blessing” as they aimed for a stark response against St Kilda.

“For us, (it) being a short break, we really didn’t have a long time to process (the loss), which was probably a blessing in disguise in the end, (with) another six-day break into another super important game,” he said.

“Especially this one, knowing Tom (Liberatore) wasn’t going to be out there, I think we had to go searching for other contributors.

“My thinking was just to try and alleviate any of the tension that came out of the last game … Try and keep the guys loose, knowing going into this game there might be a bit of tension.”

Fox Footy’s David King quizzed Bontempelli on what his relationship with Beveridge looks like amid the club’s on-field blips, with the star midfielder describing the 53-year-old as the team’s “guiding light”.

“That relationship (between captain and coach) needs to be strong, and at times we’ve got to challenge each other and continue to search for how we can help each other in that relationship,” Bontempelli said.

“He’s continued to be that guiding light for all of us, especially us as leaders, and we probably put our hands up for last week’s (effort).

“Not enough of us — including myself — were strong enough (nor) influential players in that game.”

King asked Bontempelli if he went “over and above” normal captain-coach conversations leading into Thursday night’s bout.

“I don’t think so,” he responded. “I think we’ve always looked to each other in these moments, and sometimes it’s just a look of assurance and more my responsibility as a player.

“He can’t be out there on the field. I guess I’m somewhat of the voice out there for our coaching group, as are the rest of our leadership group.

“Coaches, in the end, they say ‘we can’t be out there with you, we would if we could’, and ultimately it’s up to us as players.

“We’ve got a very strong relationship and when the pressure builds, we both look at each other (to try) to lead by example.”

The tests keep coming for these Bulldogs, with a vengeful Fremantle outfit awaiting them in Round 7 at Optus Stadium.