Western Bulldogs 4.1 6.6 9.9 10.9.69
Melbourne 3.4 6.9 14.9 18.11.119
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Wallis 3, Schache 2, Johannisen 2, Hunter, McLean, Lipinski
Melbourne: Hogan 4, T. McDonald 3, Neal-Bullen 2, Spargo 2, Garlett 2, Hannan, Oliver, Melksham, Lewis, Petracca
Alex Docherty’s Best
Western Bulldogs: Macrae, Wallis, Hunter, Dunkley, Schache, McLean
Melbourne: Gawn, Brayshaw, Oliver, Hogan, Melksham, Spargo, Fritsch
What in the hell is the matter with the Western Bulldogs and third quarters? What was witnessed on Saturday evening against the Melbourne Demons was nearly a split image of what was seen the previous weekend against Hawthorn. A third term that saw Melbourne completely dominate the Dogs was the catalyst in another belting for the red, white and blues, with 50 points separating the two sides by the final siren.
Third quarters have been pretty much the bane of the Western Bulldogs this year. In their 16 games this year, the Western Bulldogs have won just four third quarters and all of them have been by a goal or less. In the quarters they have lost this year, the combined margin is a whopping 237 points and it should come as no shock that they are the worst-performing team in third quarters this year.
So what’s the deal? A lack of experience will be in there somewhere given the staggering list of injuries this side has faced this year. But that excuse can only go so far in football. There was seven players in the side on Saturday that have played 100 games or more – eight if you count Lachie Hunter, who’s set to crack his century next week – and 11 of the 22 who played in the premiership just under two years ago were out on the park on Saturday.
This is a problem that stems so much deeper than inexperience. Over the past five weeks, the Bulldogs have conceded 31 goals in just third quarters alone. That probably paints a crystal clear image of just how poor this side have been in third quarters this season. If it doesn’t, then the fact that the Bulldogs have kicked two goals or less in a third quarter on 10 separate occasions this year probably will. It has just been that painful to watch this year.
Now let’s look at a positive. Over the past month, the Dogs have faced teams that will be vying for a spot in the finals – North Melbourne, Geelong, Hawthorn and Melbourne. For at least a half of each of those games, the Western Bulldogs have been competitive, which is a very good sign. On Saturday evening, we were shown again that the Dogs can at least make a fist of things in a half. But as many people – both experts and spectators have said – you can’t win games in two quarters of footy.
The Dogs took the lead by quarter time, kicking four goals to Melbourne’s three, on the back of great pressure. It started with a tackle on James Harmes which led to a deliberate free to Mitch Wallis who slammed it home for the first goal of the night. They looked more hungrier for the ball than Melbourne in the first quarter and were on top of disposals in the first half. They had 27 more in the first quarter and 23 more in the second term.
After holding a three-point lead at quarter time, the Demons looked to have gained some ascendancy in the second term, leading by as much as 15 points after goals from Charlie Spargo and Alex Neal-Bullen gave the Dees a small buffer. Yet despite a poor result at the end of the night, there has to be some small admiration for at least a response in the second quarter. Josh Schache looked dangerous early, kicking a goal in the opening term, before landing awkwardly on his left knee and looked in a bit of pain.
In a bit of rare good luck for the Bulldogs, he came back on and added to his first term major with a fantastic long-range set-shot. This was followed up with a terrific running goal from 100th gamer and stand-in captain Jason Johannisen to bring the Dogs back to within a kick at the long break. After a strong opening five minutes from the Bulldogs in the third, which saw Dale Morris push forward for a behind and Patrick Lipinski goal from a free-kick, this was where the Demons kicked into gear.
It all started in the middle, and after an okay opening half, Max Gawn turned the game on its head with a dominant second half in the ruck. He provided the ball on a silver platter to the likes of Angus Brayshaw and Clayton Oliver and the Demons destroyed the Bulldogs in a matter of 12 minutes. Melbourne piled on seven unanswered goals in the span of just 12 minutes – For Melbourne supporters it was champagne football. For Bulldogs supporters, it just looked ugly, painful and at times, hard to watch.
When Tom McDonald put through his second of the evening, the margin bursted out to 38 points. Not even a Mitch Wallis goal from 40 metres out could’ve put the Dogs back into the contest, as young Charlie Spargo threaded home an eighth goal for the quarter to make it an incredibly difficult task for the Dogs to complete. Toby McLean gave the Doggie supporters a spark of hope late in the quarter with a goal. It could’ve been under five goals if Schache had converted what could’ve been his third before three-quarter time.
The Bulldogs needed a goal early in the last quarter if they wanted to secure a comeback victory, but they after six minutes with neither side kicking a goal, they looked shot and had seemingly given up on the result. It took nearly 15 minutes for either side to get a goal on the board, but Jordan Lewis’ goal was the proverbial knockout punch on this game as Melbourne found themselves up by more than six goals. Further goals from Jesse Hogan, Tom McDonald and Christian Petracca inflicted more misery on the Dogs as they succumbed to a 50-point loss.
Luke Beveridge said post-game that Josh Schache ‘epitomised’ the Dogs in this match. He was very influential early and like many of his team-mates, he tapered off after half-time. He finished the match with 2.2 from 15 disposals and eight marks. Personally, his form since coming into the team has been very encouraging and I believe the Dogs’ investment in him last year was a great move and his progress has and will continue to go up as he gets more games.
It was great to see Jack Macrae back into the line-up and his stat-line suggested that he never left the side at all. He recorded 33 disposals, seven marks, eight tackles, six clearances and six inside 50s. In the absence of Marcus Bontempelli, he was huge – even more impressive is the fact that he just came back from a minor hamstring injury. Lachie Hunter (35 disposals, five marks and five inside 50s) was also fantastic, whilst Mitch Wallis has bagged three goals in back-to-back matches, along with recording 29 touches and four clearances.
Jason Johannisen marked his 100th game with a solid performance (21 disposals, two goals, four tackles and four inside 50s). Josh Dunkley continues a great patch of form in the midfield (30 disposals, four marks and four tackles) and whilst Jordan Roughead allowed Max Gawn to dominate after half-time, I thought he was solid enough to warrant a spot in the side next week (20 disposals, six marks, five tackles and six clearances). Some will want to bring Tim English back in the side, but given that his body is physically not ready, I’d like to see Roughead – out of contract this season to prove that he is worth a spot in the team beyond this year.
Gawn’s stats might suggest that he wasn’t best on ground (17 disposals, seven marks and 41 hitouts), but it was his ruckwork – particularly in that third quarter – that propelled the Demons to a match-winning lead. Angus Brayshaw and Clayton Oliver flourished under Gawn’s dominance. Brayshaw had a game-high 38 disposals along with six marks, six clearances and six inside 50s and one low-five with an umpire - which is something that you don't see at all in footy, but it's something I don't have an issue with. Oliver had 34 disposals, six tackles, five clearances and eight inside 50s to compliment his very nice goal in the third term.
Jesse Hogan was probably the next influential Demon on the team. He kicked four goals from nine marks and 18 disposals. Tom McDonald didn’t have as big of an impact as he did last time these two sides met, but he still kicked three goals from 16 touches and five marks. He also did some work up the ground, gathering four clearances as the back-up ruckman to Max Gawn, whilst Jake Melksham (20 disposals, nine marks, five inside 50s and one goal) was also very influential.
I was particularly impressed with Charlie Spargo up forward, kicking two goals from 14 disposals and seven tackles – and given that his grandfather played in Footscray’s 1961 Grand Final side, and his father played 90 VFL/AFL games, I think his future looks pretty bright. Likewise goes to Bayley Fritsch, who floated between forward and defence and has been amongst one of the draftees of the year (18 disposals, six marks and three inside 50s).
The Western Bulldogs will face one tough assignment next Sunday afternoon as they travel to Perth to take on top-four side West Coast in a rematch of the round two encounter earlier this year. Not much more needs to be said here, except that it will be expected to get extremely ugly.