The Western Bulldogs have failed to close out this year's JLT pre-season campaign with two wins from two games, going down to Collingwood by 33 points. On a hot Saturday afternoon at Ted Summerton Recreational Reserve in Moe, the Pies recovered from a woeful opening quarter and looked the better of the two sides after quarter time, despite their inaccuracy in front of goal.
After an opening quarter that was dominated by the Dogs, kicking six goals to one and recording nearly 30 more disposals, the Pies took advantage of a Bulldogs side that looked like they were asleep.
Collingwood blitzed the Dogs in the second term with an inside 50 count that read along the lines of 21-10. When you look at that, it's remarkable how they weren't in front at half time, but nonetheless, they did very well to turn a 27-point quarter-time deficit into just a three-point ball game.
At one stage in that first-half, the Pies were 1.10 and by half time they were 5.13 – given how dominant they were with the ball in hand, they really should've been up by half-time and up by a considerable margin.
The Dogs held resistance to the charge, but it was the Pies who held a small lead heading into the last quarter, with just three points separating the two sides at three-quarter time. After Lin Jong kicked his second of term early in the last quarter, the Pies turned their accuracy on with a crushing eight-goal final quarter, completing what was a solid performance for the Pies. They needed it after a very poor outing against the GWS Giants over a week ago.
As for my Western Bulldogs, is this capitulation a concern for ahead of the 2018 season? I don't think so. Aside from the fact that it's only a pre-season game – and I did state this last week as well against Hawthorn – there were also a couple of things that were pointed out after the loss yesterday.
The first point is more superstitious than anything, but can anyone remember the last time the Dogs lost to Collingwood in a Pre-Season game? It was only a couple of years ago – 2016. The premiership year. Now I'm not saying that the Dogs will win the 2018 premiership, we still have a long way to go until we get to the Grand Final, but I will say it's a little early to be calling out the club this early in the year.
Just because we blew a 27-point lead in a pre-season game, or that Mitch Honeychurch is the proverbial weakest link because he turned the ball over more than anyone else, or that we let some tall American fellow called Mason Cox, who wouldn't have known what the red-leather ball was 30 months ago, kick four goals and play like a superstar full-forward of 10 years, or that the Dogs only had eight marks inside 50 from 55 entries, doesn't mean it's the end of the season right now and all of those thing is no cause to panic or criticise this early in the year.
Was it frustrating to watch? Yes it was, even painful to watch at times. But pre-season games don't mean or amount to much, so I'm not worried in the slightest right now. The Bulldogs have a weekend off to regroup, assess their performance from this weekend before getting into the regular-season.
Focussing on the more positive side of things, Tom Liberatore was outstanding and looks set for a big year in 2018. He recorded a team-high 28 disposals along with seven clearances, four tackles, four inside 50s and kicked a very nice goal in the third quarter. Jack Macrae (27 disposals) was at his consistent best, whilst Marcus Bontempelli (20 disposals, seven clearances, four marks and three goals) was also an outstanding contributor for the losing team.
After impressive outings in the first JLT game against Hawthorn, I think it's safe to lock the trio of Jackson Trengove, Hayden Crozier and young Aaron Naughton in for the Bulldogs' round one encounter against Greater Western Sydney. Trengove was in everything, recording 24 disposals, 19 hitouts, nine clearances, four marks and three inside 50s. Crozier recorded 21 disposals and three rebound 50s in defence, whilst Naughton, despite battling against Cox throughout the day, had another composed performance in defence, with 13 disposals, eight marks and three rebound-50s.
Other Bulldogs that played well include Toby McLean (26 disposals, four marks and four inside 50s) who I believe is set to breakout in 2018, whilst Lachie Hunter (22 disposals, six marks, six rebound 50s and six inside 50s) and Jason Johannisen (21 disposals, five marks, four inside 50s, three rebound 50s and a goal) were also very good.
Leading into the second point I mentioned earlier, which I found more fascinating. The Western Bulldogs had around 90 interchange rotations for the entire game, which is the maximum number of rotations you can make in a game for this season. Collingwood had about 30 more for the game. Obviously it doesn't mean a great deal for a pre-season game, but it's clear that the Bulldogs weren't going to have the legs to run out the game in very hot conditions when you compare the rotations both sides made.
Yes Collingwood looked good on Saturday, I'm not going to shy away from it, but when you have to resort to more rotations than your opposition – 30-odd more than what the AFL will allow you in a regular-season game, then I think it gets a little worrying. Will Collingwood be able to run out high-intensity games? Especially late in the season? I'm not too sure about the Pies' finals credentials this season, but we'll find out what they're made of come round one, when they take on Hawthorn.
Adam Treloar (32 disposals, 14 tackles, 13 clearances and a goal) and Steele Sidebottom (28 disposals, six tackles, five inside 50s and one goal) will propel Collingwood's engine room in 2018, alongside captain Scott Pendlebury, who only managed 12 disposals and five tackles in 50 percent game time, whilst Brodie Grundy (37 hitouts, five tackles, 12 disposals and a goal) looks set for another huge year in the ruck.
During October last year, I wrote in one article asking 'Who in the hell was Sam Murray?' I got delivered the answer on Saturday with the former Swan putting in a cracking game at half-back. He recorded 24 disposals, nine marks, seven rebound 50s and five inside 50s. On that performance alone, not only he should play round one, but you can see why the Pies were willing to part with their second-round pick in this year's draft to obtain him.
With Darcy Moore slated to play more time in defence this year, Collingwood looked to big American Mason Cox as the go-to forward option and for someone that hasn't played the game as much as the rest of the players, he proved very hard to stop in the air and finished with a bag of four goals from 12 disposals and eight marks – four of those contested grabs. Another player set for a big 2018 is the consistently inconsistent Travis Varcoe, who also looked very dangerous around goals, finishing with three goals from 14 disposals.
Western Bulldogs 6.2 7.4 9.7 12.8.80 Collingwood 1.5 5.13 8.16 16.17.113
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli 3, Wood 2, Jong 2, Dahlhaus, Johannisen, Dunkley, Gowers, Liberatore
Collingwood: Cox 4, Varcoe 3, Reid 2, Treloar, Grundy, Adams, Phillips, Thomas, Sidebottom, Brown
Alex Docherty's Best
Western Bulldogs: Liberatore, Bontempelli, Trengove, Macrae, Dahlhaus, McLean, Johannisen
Collingwood: Sidebottom, Treloar, Cox, Murray, Grundy, Adams, Varcoe