WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says his side has plenty of work to do after slumping to its fourth loss of the season following a nail-biting one-point defeat to Adelaide.
Last year's Grand Finalists have struggled to string together consistent performances, and are also battling a lengthy injury list, with the likes of Josh Bruce, Mitch Hannan, Lachie Hunter, Jason Johannisen, Alex Keath, Toby McLean, Mitch Wallis and Laith Vandermeer unavailable this weekend.
"We've just got to stay positive, we have some challenges on our hands in various shapes and forms. We have to credit Adelaide, their pressure game was very good, for a team to take 26 intercept marks, I don't think that's ever happened to our team over the journey," Beveridge said.
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"There were times we didn't use the footy that well or were pressured into error, which we credit them with, but there were other times when we needed to be a bit better. It's a considerable inside-50 differential loss (15), which we aren't normally faced with, which again, you have to give them credit for that.
"We felt like they strangled us, didn't let us play with any fluency, and in the end, a point is gut-wrenching, but they deserve the win, the way they played, and obviously our guys are really disappointed.
"Where our problem had been completing plays and kicking goals, that obviously happened early in the game, but this afternoon we just didn't create enough opportunities, and our forwards were soundly beaten.
"It was great to establish a bit of chemistry last week with a different forward line to what we had at the start of the season, but today we looked a fair way off it there, unfortunately, so we've got a fair bit of work to do."
Wallis withdrew from the squad on Thursday night due to personal reasons, and Beveridge provided an update, saying a close family member had passed away and Wallis' wife is a week overdue with their second child.
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks labelled the win as up there with the best in his time at the Crows, given his side's level of development and the strength of the opponent.
"The last couple of weeks have been really enjoyable, that feeling of pride in a group that's shown a lot of consistency. It's over a couple of weeks, but against some high-quality opposition, to come and play the way we want to play two weeks in a row and show resilience like we did today, it's really, really pleasing," Nicks said.
"When we talk about our style of footy, that's the way we want to play. We think it's a finals brand/style of football. So when that time comes for us, we want to be ready for it, we don't want to limp our way in, we want to bring a contested ball style. I think it's exciting to watch.
"As I said before, with a little bit more polish on the back of it, I know we'll be playing games where we'll be able to kick 100-plus. Today was one of those days, we didn't do that, but we came away with the win in the end."
Nicks revealed it hadn't been all smooth sailing in Ballarat, with the team bus first taking the squad to the wrong hotel last night, before attempting to arrive through the wrong entrance to the stadium.