Senior coach Ben Rutten believes the Bombers must improve their contested possession ability if they are to take the next step in 2022.
In a year of outstanding growth which saw the Dons make the finals for the first time since 2019, a key cornerstone of Rutten’s first season at the helm was ensuring his side was a blue-collar and dependable outfit.
While it showed with the club leaping five spots up the ladder in 2021, the overarching improvement for the Dons comes down to the contest.
The Bombers finished 10th for contested possessions at the end of the home and away season, with eventual premier Melbourne ranking first, and Port Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney rounding out the top four.
It was a stat which cost the Dons in its elimination final with the Western Bulldogs.
After holding a two-goal lead over the Dogs in the first half, the Bombers fell away in wet conditions after half-time as a mature Western Bulldogs side gathered 22 more contested possessions.
Rutten said winning more contested possessions must be at the forefront of his side's growth.
“It’s an area which we need to keep building on,” Rutten told SEN Breakfast.
“Our final is a great example of that where I think we were going well against the Bulldogs.
“We probably missed a few opportunities in front of goal that hurt us on the scoreboard and the game flipped on its head in the second half.
“The weather made the game more contested and that was where the Bulldogs just shone through a little bit more and overwhelmed us a little bit around the contest.
“It’s an area we need to continue to evolve and address and build that consistency amongst our group.”
When pressed on whether improvement would come from within or via trade acquisitions in the upcoming player movement period, Rutten was certain his group had more growth in it.
The senior coach used several examples of players who rose to another level in 2021 and became critical components of the side.
An opportunity to add a quality player to a young and growing list is something which Rutten said the Dons would only seek if it was presented to them.
“If we think (obtaining an established players is) going to strengthen and improve our squad then we certainly will be (interested),” Rutten said.
“I was really keen (to see internal improvement this year) rather than looking elsewhere to actually continue to develop and see what we got on our list, and I think we had some really strong examples over the course of last season.
“(Players such as) Jayden Laverde, Tom Cutler going down back in the last six or seven weeks and Darcy Parish. To be able to continue to develop guys on the list was an important priority for us, but there’s a hell of a lot of improvement in our list.
“We saw three games out of Jye Caldwell, and I’ve got some really high hopes on Jye. He was probably our best performer throughout the pre-season in terms of our training and games. I was really disappointed we lost him in the second round.
“It’s another example of rather than looking elsewhere, I think we’ve got a fair bit of capacity still there.”
