LUKE Beveridge was left to again rue the Western Bulldogs' poor accuracy in front of goal, but the Dogs coach is backing his side to recapture its form after a sluggish first month of the season.
The Bulldogs have dropped to 1-3 after their 38-point loss to the Tigers on Saturday night in an opening month that has seen last year's Grand Finalists struggle to reach the heights of their 2021 form.
Their conversion has also been a major issue, with the Dogs kicking 6.19 against Richmond. Over the past three weeks, the club has kicked 28 goals and 48 behinds, in a wayward display in front of goal.
TIGERS V BULLDOGS Full match details and stats
Beveridge said the goalkicking had been costly, particularly after his side had dominated the start of the game but kicked 1.7 before registering their second major.
"Frustrating is probably the obvious word. The last few weeks we've kicked way too many points. We were encouraged by the way we were playing for a fair period of the game," Beveridge said post-game.
"They got better at their pressure game as the game went on.
"It is frustrating that we're creating many, many opportunities and I could sit here and say it takes time with the blend and lack of chemistry here and there, but there's some obvious opportunities skill-wise breaking down and decision-making at times.
"We sit there as coaches and think 'What do we need to change?' in our system and what we train and what we promote. And a lot of the time it looks really good, but if you keep breaking down with the connection piece…it's unfortunate and disappointing."
Beveridge said he had not addressed the goalkicking woes during the game other than to encourage his players, but admitted it became a team-wide issue on Saturday night.
"It snowballed out of control tonight, so it's not going to get any better if I get the whip out and come down hard on them for skill errors. They're not trying to make them. They're disappointed themselves that they're not executing to the level they'd like, so I just have to support them and encourage them," he said.
"It's probably as extreme as it's been in our time together, the last couple of weeks.
"We got away with a win last week (against Sydney), but tonight Richmond didn't let us get away with that. We’ll stay positive."
The Tigers, who could regain defender Nick Vlastuin (hamstring) for next week's trip to Adelaide, got their season back on track with the victory, leveling their campaign at two wins and two losses.
Their premiership era had been written off across the board after their last-quarter fadeout against St Kilda in round three, but coach Damien Hardwick said his line-up was evolving on the go.
"The reality is we've got a vastly different side now [to the ones we had previously]. We're really excited about some of the guys we've unearthed," Hardwick said post-game.
"Hugo Ralphsmith was wonderful again tonight, Josh Gibcus continues to grow, Ben Miller is becoming very reliable down back, so we've found some pieces of the puzzle that we think are going to be long-termers for us.
"And we're looking at the same in our VFL squad. Our recruiting and list management team did a wonderful job of stacking the draft last year and rewarding us with some valuable pieces moving forward, but we've got some players right here, right now who are becoming very good players for us."
