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Greater Western Sydney’s game of keepings off on Saturday that almost ended the Western Bulldogs’ season was interim coach Mark McVeigh’s way of compensating for an injury-ravaged list.
The Giants racked up 165 marks – 74 more than the Bulldogs – in a deliberate strategy that borrowed from the tactics adopted by St Kilda and Fremantle against the same opposition in the past month.
They had only 27 players to choose from and McVeigh, who remains in the race to be Leon Cameron’s successor next year, conceded they would not have had a chance if they tried to go head to head with the Dogs.
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“We came up with a plan that we think we could execute to test them out. We’re very limited in our selection with our group at the moment, so we just couldn’t go toe-to-toe with them,” McVeigh said.
“We had to come up with a really good plan that would potentially keep us in the game and not guarantee us the win but keep us within striking distance come three quarter time – and it worked.
“But if you don’t have the effort that’s required to do that, and to execute a game plan, well, it sort of goes away. I thought our effort was clear from the start of the game, as was theirs. And we nearly stole it.”
It was a second-straight strong response from GWS since McVeigh questioned whether many of his players had “checked out” early in the season after a poor performance against the Swans.
“I think always in your football career in clubs, you’ve got to have some moments where some honesty needs to happen between players and coaching staff,” he said.
“We came to that moment a couple of weeks ago … anything I said wasn’t a surprise, because it was conveyed behind closed doors.
“I know there was a lot of heat on those comments, and I appreciate that, but I loved that the microscope went on us and I just think right now, it’s got nothing to do with me.
“Their character was probably questioned outside and I reckon people are starting to go, ‘Gee, that’s a pretty good effort in the last two weeks with players being out of the team’.”
McVeigh is pleased with the progress they have made in their team defence and believes the club will boast a “seriously good backline” for the next decade with the likes of Sam Taylor, Harry Himmelberg, Leek Aleer, Connor Idun and co.
“I’ve been limited a little bit in trying to introduce my actual game style, just because it’s been so ingrained for a long period of time, which is absolutely right,” he said.
“I don’t have a lot of time during the week … but slowly over the last few weeks, that team defence part is something that I’m pretty passionate about and that’s getting better. But that takes time.”
GWS lost two more players – Lachie Keeffe (groin) and Tanner Bruhn (concussion) – but McVeigh expects Tim Taranto and James Peatling to be available next week after respective concussions.
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