gridlocked
6 Apr 2006, 16:34
Interesting article about the up coming match:
We owe Demons: Cooney
12:12:04 PM Thu 6 April, 2006
Angus Morgan
Exclusive to afl.com.au
For all his fine achievements in his short career, Western Bulldogs midfielder Adam Cooney has never experienced the joy of playing in a winning side against Melbourne.
In fact the Demons have had much the better of the Bulldogs in recent seasons, winning eight of their last nine clashes, the most significant of which was in round 21 last year - a four-point result at the MCG which effectively cost the Bulldogs a place in the finals.
Speaking at training this week ahead of Saturday's return clash at Telstra Dome, Cooney put the Bulldogs' most recent loss to the Demons - February's NAB Cup clash in Darwin - down to "experimentation".
But he conceded that last year's late-season loss still genuinely hurts.
"It definitely does burn a bit," Cooney said.
"Obviously it was Melbourne and we needed to win that game to make the finals. It does burn inside and we need to use that now.
"I think that suggests that we owe them a bit. They have had the wood over us in recent times, but this week I suppose we can get back at them a bit."
Cooney said the mood had been upbeat, but not over the top, at Whitten Oval this week in the wake of the club's 115-point opening round thumping of Richmond at Telstra Dome.
He said however that it was important to "forget about last week now, and move forward".
"Obviously (it's) very positive. I suppose to go out and start the season in that sort of fashion you can't ask for anything better," Cooney said.
"The challenge for us is to back that up and keep doing it week-in, week-out."
"Once we get our run going we’re pretty hard to stop and the style of footy we play is pretty exciting. I think when we're on our game there's probably not too many teams in the comp that can stop our run."
The 20 year-old, who now has 42 games to his credit entering his third AFL season, said that had been a "bit fumbly" of late and that he wants to improve his ball-handling in a bid to earn a higher proportion of 'hard-ball gets'.
He said he planned to follow the example set by any number of his midfield teammates.
"The way Daniel Cross stood up last year and became one of the elite midfielders, and Westy is already there - I'm trying to work on that and trying to get up in that area," he said.
"All the midfielders had a fantastic pre-season and we're all looking really fit and really positive about where we can go this year."
We owe Demons: Cooney
12:12:04 PM Thu 6 April, 2006
Angus Morgan
Exclusive to afl.com.au
For all his fine achievements in his short career, Western Bulldogs midfielder Adam Cooney has never experienced the joy of playing in a winning side against Melbourne.
In fact the Demons have had much the better of the Bulldogs in recent seasons, winning eight of their last nine clashes, the most significant of which was in round 21 last year - a four-point result at the MCG which effectively cost the Bulldogs a place in the finals.
Speaking at training this week ahead of Saturday's return clash at Telstra Dome, Cooney put the Bulldogs' most recent loss to the Demons - February's NAB Cup clash in Darwin - down to "experimentation".
But he conceded that last year's late-season loss still genuinely hurts.
"It definitely does burn a bit," Cooney said.
"Obviously it was Melbourne and we needed to win that game to make the finals. It does burn inside and we need to use that now.
"I think that suggests that we owe them a bit. They have had the wood over us in recent times, but this week I suppose we can get back at them a bit."
Cooney said the mood had been upbeat, but not over the top, at Whitten Oval this week in the wake of the club's 115-point opening round thumping of Richmond at Telstra Dome.
He said however that it was important to "forget about last week now, and move forward".
"Obviously (it's) very positive. I suppose to go out and start the season in that sort of fashion you can't ask for anything better," Cooney said.
"The challenge for us is to back that up and keep doing it week-in, week-out."
"Once we get our run going we’re pretty hard to stop and the style of footy we play is pretty exciting. I think when we're on our game there's probably not too many teams in the comp that can stop our run."
The 20 year-old, who now has 42 games to his credit entering his third AFL season, said that had been a "bit fumbly" of late and that he wants to improve his ball-handling in a bid to earn a higher proportion of 'hard-ball gets'.
He said he planned to follow the example set by any number of his midfield teammates.
"The way Daniel Cross stood up last year and became one of the elite midfielders, and Westy is already there - I'm trying to work on that and trying to get up in that area," he said.
"All the midfielders had a fantastic pre-season and we're all looking really fit and really positive about where we can go this year."