Cross looks ahead

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Tireless Western Bulldogs midfielder Daniel Cross is adamant his team can rebound from Friday night's brutal defeat at the hands of Hawthorn at the MCG.

The Bulldogs, 51-points losers in the opening final of the 2008 series, will face the winner of Saturday night's cut-throat clash between Sydney and North Melbourne.

Cross and Co wasted little time moving on from the loss; the players convened on Saturday morning to review the video and cast their attention to the sudden-death assignment next weekend.

He said reliving the Friday nightmare wasn't a pleasant experience but served its purpose.

"There weren't too many happy faces but we have to try and get on with it," the on-baller told radio station SEN.

"We will find out who wins tonight and try and salvage something. We feel we have had a great year but it's just not happening for us at the moment."

"We've got to do something about it next week."

He denied the fact the Bulldogs limped into September and were outplayed by the Hawks reflected a side that had run its race.

"I suppose our record would suggest that but we know we have got very good players," Cross said.

"I don't think you win 15 and a half games through the year without being a half-decent side."

"We've definitely got the players there and the capabilities to win games. I think we're just down on confidence at the moment and we played a very, very good side last night."

Cross conceded the Bulldogs 'choked' under the spotlight but said he nor his team-mates were intimidated by the Lance Franklin-led Hawks.

"I don't think intimidation is the word, I think we panicked," he said.

"We were giving the ball to stationary targets. We wanted to run to try and break up their so-called cluster."

"(But) we were giving it to stationary guys and didn't have runners coming through the middle enough. That's where we broke down."

"I'm disappointed with everyone and everyone is disappointed with everyone else and we've got to turn it around very quickly this week," he added.