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 Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:50 am Post subject: Hard-working Dog Brian Lake hones skills |
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| Quote: | Hard-working Dog Brian Lake hones skills
Rebecca Williams | January 21, 2009 12:00am
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,24940702-19775,00.html
BULLDOG Brian Lake says his evolution as a backman is still a work in progress as he strives to become a more rounded defensive weapon. Despite the team's preliminary final appearance, Lake admitted yesterday his own performances last season were not at the level he had hoped after his best-and-fairest win in 2007.
The 26-year-old played all 25 games for the Dogs last season, spending more time on the ground than any player other than fellow defender Dale Morris.
But Lake said there were still areas of his game that needed tweaking to allow him to be "more involved".
"Personally, the previous year I felt I played a lot better," Lake said yesterday.
"It's a good thing we finished third. The ball didn't come down as much, but I probably didn't play as good a footy as I would have liked.
"There is a few areas that I have got to work on and I tried to work on that through last year. Sometimes it did pay off. The coaches were riding me pretty hard to change different things in my game.
"It was sort of a learning curve last year for me and going into this pre-season, I'm just trying to get my body right so I can try some more things.
"Just things on my opponents, different set-ups and getting a little bit more of the ball and trying to push up the ground a little bit more.
"It's just the way the game is going now that everyone in the team should be able to run and use the ball."
Lake said he was progressing well after hip surgery and he is aiming to be ready for the second round of the NAB Cup.
He is now running and doing skills work.
"I'm fractionally behind the rest of the group, but the body is going pretty well," he said.
Lake said last year's preliminary final loss to Geelong had been driving the side over the summer. "The boys know that we have got the talent, we have got the ability, it's just that little bit extra that we need to find to be able to compete with the Hawthorns and Geelongs." |
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