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Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett refused to be drawn into positives around his side finally crossing for points after their 52-18 loss to the Melbourne Storm.
When Luke Thompson crossed for the Bulldogs in the first half, there was a massive sigh of relief around Stadium Australia.
After three straight matches without scoring a point, the Bulldogs got on the board arguably against the most unlikely of opponents, the 2020 title-winning Storm.
By the final whistle, however, that joy was quickly forgotten as the Bulldogs became the first side to concede 50 points this season.
The signs of improvement were certainly there for the Bulldogs, especially in attack.
The return of Luke Thompson was a major factor, with the English international running for 139 metres.
However, Barrett wasn't going to sit back and be happy with a few tries on the board.
The Storm ran in nine tries and Barrett was left particularly unimpressed with how his side switched off towards the end of both halves.
"We’ve got to look at where it went wrong, certainly not happy with the end scoreline," Barrett said post-match.
"Definitely after half time, I thought we showed some real resolve to come out and do what we did. I thought in our patches our attack certainly improved a hell of a lot.
"[But] I wasn’t happy with some individual efforts defensively in that first half, I thought that was poor and put us under too much pressure.
"Two tries just before half time and two at the death, that’s 24 points. We can’t do that.
"Unfortunately tonight, our attack wasn’t our problem. That first half, we had some defensive efforts on our line that weren’t up to scratch.
"Whilst I can sugarcoat over that, I’m not going to cop it. We’ve got to fix that and we’ve got to start putting whole games together."
Barrett admitted that a lot of work during the week has gone into fixing their attack which could suggest why they looked a lot sharper against the Storm.
Five-eighth Jake Averillo in particular was singled out by his coach as having a huge influence on the game.
"He was very good, I want him to run the ball and he’s still only very young, he wouldn’t be up to ten first grade games," Barrett said.
"I think for his confidence, he’s quick and he can change the tempo of games for us which is what we need.
"Our inability to score points in that three week period was there for everyone to see and we did work hard on that.
"But the big thing is how we’ve got to build pressure, but I guess we really need to narrow down the two or three things each week we need to improve.
"We are what we are, we have to keep working hard."
The Bulldogs have their best chance to finally secure a victory when they take on the winless Cowboys next Sunday in Townsville.
When Luke Thompson crossed for the Bulldogs in the first half, there was a massive sigh of relief around Stadium Australia.
After three straight matches without scoring a point, the Bulldogs got on the board arguably against the most unlikely of opponents, the 2020 title-winning Storm.
By the final whistle, however, that joy was quickly forgotten as the Bulldogs became the first side to concede 50 points this season.
The signs of improvement were certainly there for the Bulldogs, especially in attack.
The return of Luke Thompson was a major factor, with the English international running for 139 metres.
However, Barrett wasn't going to sit back and be happy with a few tries on the board.
The Storm ran in nine tries and Barrett was left particularly unimpressed with how his side switched off towards the end of both halves.
"We’ve got to look at where it went wrong, certainly not happy with the end scoreline," Barrett said post-match.
"Definitely after half time, I thought we showed some real resolve to come out and do what we did. I thought in our patches our attack certainly improved a hell of a lot.
"[But] I wasn’t happy with some individual efforts defensively in that first half, I thought that was poor and put us under too much pressure.
"Two tries just before half time and two at the death, that’s 24 points. We can’t do that.
"Unfortunately tonight, our attack wasn’t our problem. That first half, we had some defensive efforts on our line that weren’t up to scratch.
"Whilst I can sugarcoat over that, I’m not going to cop it. We’ve got to fix that and we’ve got to start putting whole games together."
Barrett admitted that a lot of work during the week has gone into fixing their attack which could suggest why they looked a lot sharper against the Storm.
Five-eighth Jake Averillo in particular was singled out by his coach as having a huge influence on the game.
"He was very good, I want him to run the ball and he’s still only very young, he wouldn’t be up to ten first grade games," Barrett said.
"I think for his confidence, he’s quick and he can change the tempo of games for us which is what we need.
"Our inability to score points in that three week period was there for everyone to see and we did work hard on that.
"But the big thing is how we’ve got to build pressure, but I guess we really need to narrow down the two or three things each week we need to improve.
"We are what we are, we have to keep working hard."
The Bulldogs have their best chance to finally secure a victory when they take on the winless Cowboys next Sunday in Townsville.
