"Our players are winners tonight, I thought they were outstanding" - Luke Beveridge reacts as injury-hit Western Bulldogs go down fighting in Sydney

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has praised his players for putting up a good fight despite losing to league leaders Sydney Swans on Thursday. The Swans beat the Bulldogs 88-102.

Beveridge spoke to the media in his post-match press conference and said:

“I think our system and game style look pretty good, we just made some monumental blues and missed monumental chances to give ourselves any real chance to win the game

"In the long run, I just thought our players showed enormous character,” said the premiership coach. All in all, it showed there was great integrity in what the boys did and obviously against the top side.

“Our backline stayed on (the ground) for the whole last half, and Tim English did as well. We had to ask the boys to do different things and play right out of their comfort zone.

“It’s just a shame, we had a bit of bad luck. You never lose and feel like a winner, but in my books our players are winners tonight. I thought they were outstanding.”

The Bulldogs won clearances 38-33, centre clearances 16-8 and contested possessions 138-105 but were unable to put it on the scoreboard returning 12.16.

A late surge by Jamarra Ugle-Hagan who had six marks and three goals in the game put them back within eight points with six minutes remaining. However, a 50m penalty paid to Hayden McLean put an end to the comeback.

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Beveridge confident Naughton knock minor as they await scans

AFL Rd 11 - Western Bulldogs v Sydney. Aaron Naughton being walked off the field

Bulldogs player Aaron Naughton was tackled by Sydney's Lewis Melican in the second quarter as his knee was caught under him. He was walked off by the assistant trainers.

This led to a tactical switch by coach Luke Beveridge, who moved skipper Marcus Bontempelli from midfield to the front line.

A first look by the medical officials gave the club confidence that Naughton avoided an ACL tear, which would mean the end of his season. As they await further scans on Friday, the fear that there is damage to other ligaments still linger. This means he could still miss weeks, adding to the Bulldogs injury woes.

Speaking about the injury post-match, Beveridge said:

"The indications are that hopefully it’s not as extreme as an ACL, so you never can tell. Obviously they’ve looked at it a bit closely … fingers crossed it’s not too extreme.

"We had to send Marcus forward – our forward line became pretty dysfunctional due to probably Aaron’s loss and how we had to move some players around.

"As much as Marcus might not have got on the end of a lot in the last quarter, I thought it might have made (the Swans) a little bit wary of him and on edge, so all in all, it showed great integrity in what the boys did against a top side.”

Beveridge will have to go back to the tactical board to formulate a long-term solution to the Western Bulldogs' goal scoring if Naughton eventually has to miss games due to his injury. They face top four contenders Collingwood next Friday in their round 12 matchup.