WESTERN Bulldogs coach Tam Hyett could not fault her side’s efforts in their loss to Carlton over the weekend, with the Daughters of the West going down in a tight 16-point loss. On the stats sheet the sides were fairly even, but Hyett noted it was the Blues’ ability to execute that was the difference.

“I thought we competed really well,” she said. “Same amount of inside 50s, one less scoring shot, they were much better with ball in hand and probably got us a fair bit on transition. We’ve been competing well around contests and defensively, we probably need to shift the ball off the line a little bit more.

“We probably kicked too much into their hands and they took advantage, they were really good in the air so disappointing, we’re better than effort and we’re just not finishing off our work at the moments.”

When asked whether or not it was a case of a disconnect inside 50 from the forwards linking up with the midfielders, Hyett said it was not so much that, but more a case of decision making when on the attack.

“I thought we took some poor options when we had a real opportunity to launch deeper,” she said. “We went a little bit too wide a couple of times when we chances just from 60 to really put their backs under pressure one-v-one, so probably decision making was poor and then we failed to execute, so we had enough chances, but just finishing off our work.”

The Dogs have been known for their contest work, winning the hitouts (29-15) and centre clearances (9-5), but were well beaten at the stoppages around the ground (20-11) for an overall clearance loss of five (20-25) against the Blues. Only two less contested possessions, but the Western Bulldogs had 27 less uncontested possessions and nine less marks in the 7.7 (49) to 4.9 (33) defeat.

“We’ve got a really competitive group and some of the core metrics that we wanted to improve on was our contest stuff and also consolidate defensively,” Hyett said. “What we’re not doing is finishing off our work. We’re doing all the hard work of winning the ball back, but then giving it up too easy the other way.”

The Western Bulldogs have a massive opportunity to move to 2-3 for the season when they come up against the last placed, winless GWS Giants. The two sides face off at Manuka Oval in the nation’s capital on Saturday.