The pressure is building on Footscray Edgewater.
The Bulldogs are in real danger of missing the finals for a second season since their glory days as premiers in 2013-14.
The down-on-their-luck Dogs are counting the cost of three consecutive narrow losses, which left them in 12th place on the Premier Cricket ladder, forced into playing catch-up with the pack leaders.
It’s a similar predicament to last summer, which ended horribly.
Bulldogs’ captain, Dean Russ, is bemoaning the points that have slipped out of his team’s grasp in recent times.
“That’s two [one-day] games in a row that we’ve lost by less than 10 runs, which is a bit of a hard pill to swallow,” he told
Star Weekly.
“Knowing that we’re competing against the top teams is a positive, but winning those games is vital if you want to be playing deep into March.”
But there is still life in the old dog. The Bulldogs showed a willingness to fight even with their backs against the wall last season, and need to dig deep again to make up the gap to the top eight.
“While there’s a pulse, there’s still hope,” Russ said. “We’ve just got to put our heads down, backsides up, work as hard as we possibly can and make sure we’re giving ourselves optimal opportunity to win four out of four.
“Last year we were able to knock off a few teams.”
“It’s up to us to change it, we need some big efforts.”
The Bulldogs fell eight runs short of Camberwell Magpies’ total of 222 in a one-day game at Merv Hughes Oval on Saturday.
New-ball operator Hamish Winter-Irving had his best figures as a Bulldog, taking 5-37 off 10 overs.
“It was great to see Hamish take his first five for the club and in Premier Cricket,” Russ said. “He bowled exceptionally well.”
Guy Walker had a full head of steam up for his 3-41 off nine, while Russ took three catches.
But the Magpies produced a winning score off the bat of Jacob Murphy, who made 81 not out, while the Bulldogs fell short of the required run rate due to the quality of the Magpies’ execution with the ball, and despite English import Dan Hodgson missing out on a maiden Premier Cricket century by just four runs.
Making 96 and showing strong recent form, Hodgson offered a glimpse of what Bulldogs fans might expect for the rest of the summer.
The Bulldogs visit Frankston Peninsula for the start of a two-day game on Saturday.
