Western Bulldogs 2.2 3.5 4.8 6.10.46 West Coast 6.4 8.9 9.15 14.16.100
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Wallis, Dahlhaus, Schache, Roughead, Macrae, Johannisen
West Coast: Cripps 3, Darling 3, Kennedy 2, LeCras 2, Rioli, Vardy, Venables, Yeo
Alex Docherty's Best
Western Bulldogs: Dunkley, McLean, Hunter, Crozier, Daniel, Johannisen
West Coast: Yeo, Gaff, Darling, Redden, Jetta, Cripps, McGovern
The Western Bulldogs' misery in Western Australia has continued as the West Coast Eagles continued their very ominous 2018 season with a 54-point trouncing at Optus Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Before this match, the Bulldogs had only won one match in eleven trips to Perth – that being their famous victory over the Eagles in the 2016 Elimination Final. Their record in the west has been that appalling.
It was a dream start for the Bulldogs, after they recorded two goals in the opening two minutes of the game courtesy of out-of-contract Dogs Mitch Wallis and Luke Dahlhaus, the Eagles eventually kicked themselves into a gear that the Bulldogs struggled to match. West Coast piled on six unanswered goals to open up a 26-point lead by quarter-time.
After injuries, turnovers would be the next thing that has majorly cruelled the Dogs this season, and what happened on Sunday was no exception. I'd say more than half of the Eagles' goals in the first quarter came from unforced errors from some of the more younger Bulldogs in the side and the Eagles absolutely crucified them on the transition. Ed Richards made a bit of a blunder when he ran too far from a kick-in early in the second quarter, which resulted in a second goal from Jamie Cripps, busting the margin out to 33 points.
Whilst the Eagles made sure of the result early, it could've been much worse for the Bulldogs as West Coast had an abundance of opportunities to really gather some much-needed percentage to catch up to the ladder leaders in Richmond. In the second and third quarters, they had a combined 25 inside 50s but could only register three goals in that amount of time, and were very wayward in their shots for goal, tallying up 11 behinds in those two quarters alone.
Perhaps the Dogs could thank their lucky stars that the conditions up in Perth were wet and windy for most of the weekend, otherwise it could've been so much worse than nine goals. In perfect conditions, West Coast could've potentially won this contest by double that. Strangely enough though, the Bulldogs also had 25 inside 50s in the second and third quarters, but could only manage 2.6 in this period of time.
The Bulldogs were never going to catch-up to the Eagles after Cripps' goal early in the second quarter, but were moments all throughout the game which saw the Dogs battle on and limit any further damage to the scoreboard. There was intensity, and there was effort. Three months ago, I claimed that the Eagles were no good, but since then they've proven doubters wrong. In comparison to the struggling Bulldogs, they were way better in terms of how well they use the ball in general play and they have a prolific forward line, which is something the Bulldogs do not have yet.
Another factor was that by three-quarter time, they had a number of players carrying some sort of injury. Luke Dahlhaus hurt his ankle in an Elliot Yeo tackle in the second quarter and is in serious doubt for next weekend. Marcus Adams was carrying a sore back after he was kneed by young Daniel Venables and Mitch Honeychurch was taken to hospital after a collision with Shannon Hurn in the third quarter. It could have him in strife by the consistently inconsistent Match Review Officer, but I believe that the West Coast captain's intent was towards the ball and he put his hands straight up after Honeychurch's head hit the body.
Third quarters have been something that the Doggies have been extremely poor in the last two weeks, but to concede just one goal in the third term on Sunday was a positive. Perhaps the last quarter was very disappointing because it unravelled a little bit after the Doggies' efforts in the second and third quarters. But coming up against a really good team such as the West Coast Eagles, it was bound to blow out again at some stage. Five goals to two set the Eagles up with very solid 54-point win and continued to set the pace of the league, along with Richmond.
The Eagles dominated nearly every aspect of this game. 63 more disposals (414-351), nine more inside 50s (53-44), 10 more contested possessions (127-117), nearly 60 more uncontested possessions (292-234), nearly 60 more marks (131-75), 11 more contested marks (15-4) and 10 more marks inside 50 (19-9). Even Eagles' coach Adam Simpson believed that his side could've won by more.
The Bulldogs best contributors included 100th gamer Lachie Hunter (28 disposals, five marks and four tackles) who looked prominent for most of the game, whilst Josh Dunkley (29 disposals, six tackles and four clearances) continued his rich vein of form with another good performance in the middle. Toby McLean also celebrated a new contract with another solid performance in the congestion (24 disposals, seven tackles, seven inside 50s and six marks).
Hayden Crozier (29 disposals, seven rebound 50s and five marks) worked tirelessly in the back-six, whilst the likes of Caleb Daniel (23 disposals, six tackles and five marks), Mitch Wallis (22 disposals and four tackles) and Jason Johannisen (21 disposals, six marks, four inside 50s and one goal) tried to generate as much offence as possible, but there were a number of team mates that simply struggled to get their hands on the footy.
The biggest question about the West Coast Eagles is how they could conduct themselves without Nic Naitanui in the team. Scott Lycett and Nathan Vardy beat Jordan Roughead and Tom Boyd in the hitouts 39-30, but the impacts they made on the contest would've been about even. The follow-up work from both Lycett and Roughead was terrific and personally nobody in the ruck really dominated.
The work from Elliot Yeo (28 disposals, eight tackles, seven inside 50s, six marks and five clearances) was first rate and was probably the most influential player on the ground. Andrew Gaff loves playing against the Bulldogs and would've been the next best player on the ground (35 disposals, four inside 50s and three clearances), whilst Jack Redden (26 disposals, nine marks, five tackles and four clearances) and Chris Masten (28 disposals, seven marks and six inside 50s) stood out in the midfield as well.
Much-maligned ex-Sydney player Lewis Jetta (28 disposals, seven marks, three clearances and three inside 50s) had one of his more better games in West Coast colours. Jack Darling dominated in the last quarter, but his form throughout the day suggested he was back to the footy he displayed at the start of the year (18 disposals, 11 marks and three goals), whilst Jamie Cripps was another forward who loomed dangerous for most of the match (17 disposals, seven marks and three goals).
After eight losses in the past nine matches, the Western Bulldogs will play their final home game of the season as they host the Port Adelaide Power in their second meeting of the season and their second game of the season at Ballarat's Mars Stadium. Whilst we can throw season 2018 down the toilet, Their is still hope for some of the smaller things like making Ballarat a hard place to beat the Western Bulldogs on any given day.