WESTERN BULLDOGS midfielder Matthew Boyd believes the recent scintillating performances from teammates Adam Cooney and Jason Akermanis have helped him produce some of the best form of his career.
Boyd, who gained a career-best 34 disposals against St Kilda last round, again accumulated 32 touches against the Brisbane Lions at the MCG on Saturday to be one of his side's best, but he was humble when asked to assess his recent efforts.
"I think it's a lot easier when the team's winning and you've got guys like that [Adam Cooney and Jason Akermanis] who are winning a lot of the ball and just slotting in nicely and they make it a lot easier to get the ball, so it's a team thing really," Boyd said.
His coach Rodney Eade said Boyd continually flew under the radar and had been in fine form throughout the course of the season.
"I think he's one of those players that goes under the radar a bit, because he just accumulates and works and he's had some good scalps – both quality players that he's played on as well as winning the ball," Eade said.
"I thought today, he didn't use the ball as well as he normally has and he probably [had a few] chip kicks here and there that weren't great and that probably frustrated the coach a bit.
"But I think 'Boydy' is one of those players like Daniel Cross – just their work rate on and off the track is just a great example to the rest of the team and the younger players really aspire to be like him.
"For him, struggling at under-18 level, playing seconds at Frankston in the VFL and then gets rookied and plays Werribee seconds and then eventually now is one of our best midfielders – I think it's a great credit to him."
Now with 102 AFL matches to his name, Boyd said the confidence was building at the Bulldogs, even though he understood the challenges that lay ahead.
"It is building and we're beating some good sides now and we're doing it well and we're playing the way that we want to play and our pressure is good and our tackling is good – all of the things that don't really get noticed that much,"
"That's giving us a lot of confidence.
"We've got to finish the season off and that's something we didn't do last year and that's the real challenge for us – to maintain that consistency for the whole season and it's something that we can hopefully really achieve this year."