Bulldogs skipper Stephen Crichton says his side has to snap out of the hot and cold form that has plagued them for the past month, echoing his coach\u2019s concerns that some players are starting to get \u201ccomfortable\u201d just weeks out from the finals.<\/p>\n
A frustrated Cameron Ciraldo took the blame for some aspects of their loss to the Roosters last week but was also disappointed with several players for not maintaining their intensity for the entire 80 minutes.<\/p>\n
Consistency built on defensive grit has been the foundation of their success this season, but there have been worrying signs in the past few weeks where they\u2019ve had great wins over Manly and the Warriors coupled with ugly losses to the Tigers and Roosters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the intensity went up, a few guys didn\u2019t want to go with it,\u201d Ciraldo said after Friday\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had consistency for three quarters of the year. The last month has been disappointing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sort of blame myself there because we\u2019ve got some guys carrying niggles, and they just get through training instead of actually training.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to stop that. If you can\u2019t train, it sort of results in a performance like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crichton is expecting a much improved training week ahead of their trip to Melbourne as they look to keep their top-two hopes alive against a team flying high after four-straight wins.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like the game that we play right now, we always fall back to our preparation,\u201d the star centre said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few of the boys that had sickness and stuff like that couldn\u2019t train properly and that filtered into the game as well.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Those comments) send a massive message to our boys that you shouldn\u2019t be comfortable with your position, regardless of if you\u2019re in the starting team or not because there are a lot of good players in our squad, so if you can\u2019t do the job, we\u2019ve got a lot of NSW Cup boys knocking on the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the boys definitely heard that (message).\u201d<\/p>\n
Crichton knows what success looks like which is why he and his fellow leaders in the playing group have vowed to not let complacency creep in after such a strong start to the season.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs finish the year with games against the Storm, Panthers and Sharks, with a home preliminary final on offer if they can recapture their early season form.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re probably getting a little too comfortable in that sense,\u201d Crichton said, urging his teammates to ignore the external noise over key changes to the spine with Lachlan Galvin and Bailey Hayward now starting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re at the serious end of the season now leading into finals so it\u2019s on the individual to train the way that you play and bring that (to a game). I feel like a lot of our players do that, but it\u2019s a team job to go out there and put a performance on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve played two really good footy games and two really bad footy games so it\u2019s about tapping into the mindset of where your mind was for those two games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn these big games, nothing is given to you so you have to earn everything. I felt like we earned it in the first 20 minutes but then went away from it so it\u2019s a good stepping stone for us and a good learning. <\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we learn our lesson this week because the exact same thing is coming against Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n