Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge lamented his side's inefficiency and inability to capitalise on opportunities in the 37-point Friday night loss to Fremantle.
The Bulldogs stuck with Fremantle for almost three quarters in a low-scoring, high-pressure affair but struggled to get territory, losing the inside 50 count 54-38.
“Fremantle had territory and we couldn't get it in our front half,” Beveridge said post game.
“We didn't plan to play (with numbers behind the ball), we've been a reasonable team defensively in recent times, we'll get numbers in there but they still scored from their forward 50 stoppages so it wasn't by design we had saturation and numbers behind the ball.
“We wanted to press up at times and didn't get our execution right.
“We came here tonight to win the game, not to be safe, not to eliminate risk, but we didn't execute well enough.
“At times in the game when we were in there from a scoreboard perspective and we had momentum opportunities, we fumbled the ball or missed gilt edged chances, we fuelled Fremantle's chances and didn't cope too well at the end of the game.
“It's a disappointing night.”
Asked about Marcus Bontempelli having his influence significantly curbed by Matthew Johnson who held him to 20 disposals, Beveridge said it was a “stalemate” in the midfield and did not believe it had a significant impact on the match.
The coach also offered an insight into the decision to manage Cody Weightman and Aaron Naughton, the former who is managing “significant discomfort” from his long-term injury.
“They've both been a bit sore and off the shorter turnarounds it's a difficult thing, they just didn't come up,” Beveridge said.
“I can't tell you whether they'll be right (for next week). It definitely wasn't a conservative thing, where you're looking after them because you're thinking about the next week, why would you do that against the top team?
“And we didn't want to concede, we came here to win the game. I know it was first vs seventh at the start of the round but we came here based off last time we played them being in the game so we definitely didn't rest them because it was any sort of free hit to give someone else a chance.”
The loss just about puts paid to the club's top six hopes.
The Dogs take on North Melbourne on Thursday night.
