Western Bulldogs 2.1 6.3 8.7 11.9.75
North Melbourne 1.1 3.3 8.5 12.5.77
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Gowers 3, Williams 2, Naughton 2, Wallis, Boyd, Cordy, Richards
North Melbourne: Brown 5, Ziebell 3, Higgins 2, Anderson, Atley
Alex Docherty's Best
Western Bulldogs: Crozier, Gowers, Adams, Hunter, Morris, McLean
North Melbourne: Brown, Higgins, Cunnington, Ziebell, Daw, Anderson, Goldstein
Saturday night proved that no matter what positions the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne are on the AFL ladder, they will always put on a cracking game of football. Last year, these two sides met and the Bulldogs won by three points and one point respectively. On this occasion, it was North Melbourne that snatched victory in another heart-stopping encounter under the roof of Etihad Stadium.
A crowd of just over 26,000 attended this game, but given the roar of the crowd from both sides, you could've been mistaken if there were a few more thousand at the ground, the noise in the final minutes was electric as both sides made one final push for victory. The way the game was played and the way it ended, this was one of those games where neither side deserved to lose.
The Western Bulldogs' pressure was as good as anything I have seen from them this year and were on from the first bounce. Despite the opening goal from North captain Jack Ziebell, the Bulldogs controlled most of the play and perhaps should've been up by more than just a solitary kick by quarter time.
Last week we saw Ed Richards play forward, rather than his usual post in defence. This week we saw Aaron Naughton – back for his first game since round eight – and Zaine Cordy play up forward for most of the match. One can only assume it was to negate the influences of Scott Thompson and Robbie Tarrant, who are the key pillars of North's defence.
For the most part, it looked a smart move. Naughton kicked his first AFL career goals, slotting one in the second and then one in the third, off an impressive big pack mark. Cordy looked to have gotten into the head of Tarrant for the first half, kicking one on him in the second quarter before instigating a scuffle. This resulted in another Bulldog free, with North defender Marley Williams dragging down Billy Gowers, and the ex-Blue made them pay with his second goal of the match, putting them 18 points ahead.
The Bulldogs played with such intent, such hunger and played with some structure, which has been something that has been regularly missing in 2018. The margin extended from one goal at quarter time to 18 points at half time. To show how good their pressure was, they laid 16 tackles inside 50 to North's two, and a pressure rating that was off the charts. The AFL average pressure rating is 170 – the Dogs' rating stood at a staggering 313.
It was with their pressure, they enabled to cause a lot of North's players to make basic errors all throughout the half. The ball slipped through Mason Wood's fingers as he went for a mark on the wing – it resulted in a forward 50 entry for the Bulldogs that could've easily been a goal. He also missed a crucial shot on goal, which saw the ball go the other end and resulted in a cracking Bailey Williams goal from the boundary.
After a strong opening half from the hosting Bulldogs, it was only going to be a matter of time for North to fight back after an ordinary first-half. With Jarrad Waite out of the team, they focussed more on kicking it to Ben Brown, which made it very predictable for the Bulldog defence. sensational midfield stopper Ben Jacobs' a late out with concussion, it was another hole in their plan as it was expected he would get the job on shutting down Marcus Bontempelli.
North's second-half fightback came in the form of ex-Bulldog Shaun Higgins. After a poor first half that saw him tagged by Josh Dunkley and record just 10 possessions, he lifted after the main break, and kicked a pair of goals including a really good snap goal that saw them get within a kick with a minute to go before three-quarter time. By the end of the match, he would've added 22 possessions to his first-half tally in what was a stirring effort.
But the Bulldogs did their best to make sure they stayed ahead of the Roos. Tom Boyd took a nice pack mark and slotted home his first goal of the night and then it was backed up with Naughton's second goal of the evening, which saw him take a great pack mark, and for a teenager, that's a good quality to have. I can't wait to see him star when he hits his prime.
Lachie Hunter had a great opportunity to give the Dogs a seven-point lead at the final break as he marked inside 50, played on and pushed his kick to the right. In hindsight, that was a game-changing miss. Ziebell slotted his second goal in the opening 20 seconds of the last quarter, as he waltzed inside 50. It looked to be another game-altering moment to the good of the Kangaroos.
But the Bulldogs continued to push forward, but with little reward for effort. Majak Daw had the quarter of his life, taking numerous intercept marks, and with Robbie Tarrant also getting himself involved in thwarting the advances of the opposition. The Bulldogs had 19 inside 50 entries in the fourth term, but most of them were very poor entries – just bombing them in long and hoping for the best.
North made them pay for it, with Ben Brown slotting home his fifth goal from his sixth mark inside 50, but it was reduced back to within a kick after miscommunication by Ben Cunnington and Marley Williams gifted Bailey Williams a second goal. That was cancelled out almost immediately as North brought it inside 50 from the centre bounce. Shaun Atley received the ball fortuitously after a couple of Bulldogs overran the footy and dribbled it through to put it back to a 10-point margin.
The Dogs had more opportunities to go forward, but they were either gobbled up by North defenders due to more poor kicking, or the shots on goal that they did take, they missed badly. Despite all of that, Ed Richards beautifully roved a contest involving fellow first-year player Naughton and kicked a great goal. This was followed by a lovely kick from Josh Schache who found Billy Gowers without having to break stride inside 50 and run towards an open goal to give the Bulldogs the lead with two minutes to play.
The Bulldogs looked in control and perhaps should've really had the game sewn up, had it not been for two critical mistakes. The first one was Mitch Wallis' poor execution going inside 50. His intention was to hit Billy Gowers deep in the pocket, but the kick was too strong sailing out of bounds on the full. He could've either handballed to Mitch Honeychurch, who was a few metres further afield or kick long towards the square and hope for a contest and a stoppage. He had a pretty solid night on the park, and it definitely wasn't his finest hour, but it's unfair to hang the loss on his head.
The second mistake was the poor transition in defence from everyone in the Bulldog colours. They didn't work hard enough to get back and once that contest on the wing went to ground, the Roos were all over it. Enabling Paul Ahern to feed to Todd Goldstein in the middle of the ground, chip to Higgins at half-forward, to Ben Brown in the pocket who toe poked the ball towards Jack Ziebell unguarded in the goal square for the winner.
I could've understood Luke Beveridge's frustrations post-game when he gave his players and old-fashioned spray. He mentioned in the press conference that his post-match blast was just about the final two minutes as he spotted 12 mistakes in that time. Take nothing away from North, because they deserved the win, but the Dogs equally deserved to win that match as well.
Without question, from a supporter's point of view, this loss hurts so much. Yet, it was an inspiring effort to match a team that will be definitely challenging for the eight this year and given the number of injuries that the Bulldogs have suffered this year, it was certainly good to see a few different players on here have massive nights.
The first one that came to mind was Hayden Crozier's work in defence. By half-time, the former Docker had 23 disposals, setting up plays off half-back. He finished the night with a career-best 30 disposals as well as 12 rebound 50s – also a career-high. Marcus Adams' first game back was impressive and showed his importance to the side (20 disposals and 12 marks) and along with the returning Dale Morris (12 disposals and seven marks), formed a mighty defensive duo and allowed Naughton and Cordy to go forward – a move which I think should stick for next week.
Speaking of forwards, Billy Gowers had perhaps the best game of his 13-match career so far. Not only did he hit the goal kickers tally three times, he managed to work up the ground and play a huge role. He had 22 disposals, 12 marks and nine inside 50s to go with his three goals and he really enjoyed getting under the skin of a few of the North defenders. Josh Schache missed an easy kick on goal, but I thought he also worked hard all night (17 disposals, four marks).
In the absence of Jack Macrae, Marcus Bontempelli had 20 disposals, but was unable to influence himself onto the contest, Luke Dahlhaus (15 disposals) was quiet in his 150th game, but Lachie Hunter (30 disposals and four tackles) found himself plenty of the ball, as did Toby McLean (26 disposals, seven clearances and five inside 50s) and Caleb Daniel (17 disposals and five tackles) bounced back after a poor game in Adelaide.
Ben Brown's five goals were match-winning for North as he tightens his grip on the Coleman Medal this year. However, the Roos need to find other avenues to goal. Especially when Jarrad Waite is not playing. Captain Jack Ziebell has proven to become a solid option up forward this year and came up trumps again when they needed him, kicking three goals, from 12 disposals, four marks and four tackles.
Todd Goldstein's work in the air and around the ground (42 hitouts, 20 disposals, seven marks and three clearances) was also hard to overlook. He worked Tom Boyd to the ground and he enabled Shaun Higgins (32 disposals, eight clearances, four inside 50s and two goals) and Ben Cunnington (30 disposals and eight clearances) first use of the ball in the middle. Jed Anderson also had a very good night (21 disposals, five clearances, six tackles and four inside 50s) as he continues his resurgent year.
The Bulldogs, now having lost their fifth-straight game now face a six-day break as they look to host the Geelong Cats on Friday night under the Etihad Stadium roof as they try to get their first win over them since 2009. It's a tough ask, especially since Geelong will be refreshed and ready to go and that they are gunning for a top-four spot.
But if they can bring that same intensity that they brought to Etihad Stadium on Saturday night, then anything is possible and streaks have always been made to be broken. I'll bet you not many people expected them to serve it up to North Melbourne the way they did before the first bounce.