Western Bulldogs forward Liam Jones is not bothered by statistics indicating he is part of the AFL’s worst-performing attack.
The Dogs’ rate of converting forward entries to goals is the competition’s poorest this season, despite having already played winless clubs Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney.
Things will only get tougher when they meet Collingwood at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.
But while kicking goals is generally considered a forward’s main job, Jones suggested that was not their primary responsibility at the Bulldogs.
“The main thing is that we’re putting on forward pressure,” the 21-year-old marking target told reporters at training on Thursday.
“It’s not really up to just the forwards to kick the goals.
“We don’t have the big 10-goal (a game), 100-goal (a season) forward this year.
“We’re relying on the midfielders to kick some goals and everyone just to chip in.”
He admitted no one at the club could fill the void left by the retirement of spearhead Barry Hall, who led the Dogs’ scoring with 55 goals last season.
But Jones said coach Brendan McCartney had assured himself and fellow young tall forwards Ayce Cordy and Jordan Roughead he would be patient with them.
“He just wants us to grow as players and mature and he’s not expecting anything to happen straight away,” Jones said.
But Jones said there had been some improvements since the Dogs’ season-low point so far, when they managed just five goals in the round-three thrashing from St Kilda.
Wins over the Demons and Giants have followed.
“We’ve brought in Ayce Cordy, Nathan Djerrkura and Justin Sherman – we’ve really built up the forward pressure. We’ve started to gel together as a young forward line,” he said.
Ruckman Will Minson, also carrying greater responsibility this year after veteran Ben Hudson’s move to Brisbane, said patience was needed for the whole team.
“Teams can’t simply get new game styles and new game plans and just have them fall into place round one,” Minson said.
“It’s a work in progress. It’s a long year – it’s round six. There’s still lots of things we want to improve on.”
Minson said while the wins of the past two rounds helped confidence, the next step was to beat a higher-ranked club, such as Collingwood.
“If you keep beating teams below you, you’re not going to get anywhere,” he said.