The Western Bulldogs turned the "emotional" retirement of untried draftee Aiden O'Driscoll into inspiration as the club surged to a 27-point victory over GWS.
O'Driscoll - who was taken with Pick 55 in last year's National Draft - was forced to retire at the raw age of 18 without featuring in an AFL game after sustaining a significant head injury during pre-season training in January.
In dedication to the youngster, former housemate Aaron Naughton wore a warm-up shirt with O'Driscoll's No.37 and name printed on the back, which coach Luke Beveridge said it was one of the things the club tried to "celebrate" despite moving week.
Two WA boys with a special bond โค๏ธ pic.twitter.com/yWaIzSZTl4
— Western Bulldogs (@westernbulldogs) May 18, 2024
"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,โ Beveridge said.
"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.โ
The Bulldogs evened the ledger on Saturday as they recorded their fifth win of the season, putting together an impressive fortnight.
Beveridge and his club have been under plenty of media scrutiny for peculiar selection calls and inconsistent performances throughout the beginning of the season.
Aside from the Hawthorn loss, the men from the Kennel have put a solid patch of football across the last month, which yielded big wins against Richmond and St Kilda.
But a tough month lies ahead for the 2021 grand finalists, with dates set for Sydney, Collingwood and the resurrecting Lions in waiting.
