Western Bulldogs star Jackson Macrae believes a finals appearance next season is a distinct possibility if they can improve in specific areas.
The Bulldogs haven’t featured in September since their stunning premiership triumph in 2016, winning just eight games and finishing in 13th position on the ladder last campaign.
Macrae has urged the Dogs to use their encouraging end to 2018 as a springboard to launch a potential finals tilt in 2019.
“It’s been a couple of disappointing seasons and we’re quite aware of the areas we need to improve on,” Macrae told SEN Breakfast.
“I’m not going to come out and say we don’t want to make finals this year – I think it’s a real possibility if we do improve on a lot of these areas that we’ve been working on in training.
“Some of our execution of skills and playing the game in our half are some of the areas I think we can really improve on and they were the areas that we were really dominant in in our premiership year.
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“The improvement is going to come from every player and I think the way we finished the season in the back six weeks was a really great brand of footy that I think we’re capable of bringing for the whole year next year.”
Macrae finished second in the Bulldogs’ Best and Fairest award behind Lachie Hunter, averaging over 32 disposals and 5 tackles per game.
Listen to Jackson Macrae’s chat on SEN Breakfast with Sam Edmund and John Hastings in the player below