Lions Full Of Roar: Brisbane Give Bulldogs A Thumping In Grand Final Rematch
- Alex Docherty
- Feb 24, 2019
- 6 min read
Western Bulldogs 0.2 0.2 1.3 2.5.17
Brisbane Lions 1.1 3.5 4.5 7.7.49
Goals
Western Bulldogs: McCarthy, McLeod
Brisbane Lions: McCarthy 2, Zanchetta, Wuetschner, Koenen, Exon, Hunt
Alex Docherty's Best
Western Bulldogs: Conti, McCarthy, Utri, Gogos, Mackie, Blackburn
Brisbane Lions: Anderson, Exon, Tawhiao-Wardlaw, Koenen, McCarthy, Yorston
As of Saturday night, the Western Bulldogs' dreams of going back-to-back premiers of the AFLW is on life support. As the Brisbane Lions got a little bit of revenge on the Dogs in the Grand Final rematch – crushing them by 32 points on the road at the Whitten Oval in front of just over 6500 spectators. This being the Bulldogs' first defeat at the Whitten Oval since the inaugural season.
After being handed a shellacking from Melbourne the week before in Queensland, the Lions were switched on from the first bounce until the end of the game and if the scoreboard didn't reflect it, the way they played would've convinced you by quarter time that they meant business. Their pressure on the Bulldogs was first rate and their tackling prevented the Bulldogs from kicking any goal in the opening term.
Kicking against the wind in the opening quarter, the Lions were outstanding, they put an extra behind the ball and denied the Bulldogs any opportunities to goal in the opening five minutes of the match. Upon their first entry inside 50, they were then able to score through Jordan Zanchetta. It was the first big win of the evening for the Lions as they would have the wind in the second term.
For the Bulldogs however, they would be playing catch up for the rest of the game. They needed a good first quarter kicking with a breeze but they were just unable to match Brisbane's intensity and had no answers to their defensive structure, which made their already-noted forward issues all the more worse. Katie Brennan was double-teamed for the most part of the evening and they sorely missed both Izzy Huntington and Brooke Lochland out there.
Now kicking with the wind in the second term, the Lions put the Bulldogs to the sword with a second quarter that should've been rewarded with more than just the two majors. The tackling intensity picked up, their pace made the Bulldogs look a couple of steps slower and the turnovers started to pile up, most of them came from the pressure of the Brisbane players and if they weren't in the face of their opposition, then they weren't far away and that caused numerous unforced errors.
I'll highlight a play that summed up the Bulldogs' night. Monique Conti, despite playing a fantastic game, had a moment in the third quarter where she was running into goal with nobody chasing her down. Aisling McCarthy was in the goal square and there was a Brisbane defender between the two. Whether or not Conti was trying to be unselfish and chip it over to McCarthy is anyone's guess, but at a time where the Bulldogs needed a goal on the board, she should've just went for goal – but it was that kind of night where not much went right.
A bit like last week against North Melbourne, it didn't take them until the third quarter to get the Western Bulldogs on the board – which is an alarming sign itself. But it didn't come before Nat Exon burst her way inside 50, baulked past a would-be tackler and nailed a very nice goal on the run to bump the margin to 26 points. This would be cancelled out as McCarthy smothered a kick from Kate Lutkins inside 50 and ran into goal for her second career goal.
But again, kicking with a breeze that had picked up a bit from the first quarter, the Bulldogs failed to get themselves back into the game despite a lift in intensity with McCarthy's major the Bulldogs' one of two scores. Brisbane had controlled the play brilliantly and maintained their pressure on the Bulldogs ball-carriers that was seen in the opening term and with the Lions kicking with the wind in the final term, the game was basically over by three-quarter time.
The night went from bad to worse for the Bulldogs when co-captain Ellie Blackburn was stretchered off the ground after she copped a shoulder in the jaw from Jordan Zanchetta in the opening minute. There was nothing malicious in the hit – I don't think Zanchetta could've got out of the way in time given the speed of which Blackburn was travelling. The Dogs' co-captain tried to get back on her feet but failed to do so, which is another worrying sign that she has suffered a bad concussion or perhaps worse.
The Lions furthered the 22-point three-quarter time deficit with a double from Kate McCarthy as well as a goal from Megan Hunt, which was another problem the Bulldogs had on this night – too many of Brisbane's forwards at one stage or another were unguarded. A cracking goal midway through the final quarter from Kirsten McLeod from the pocket was a good consolation prize for the reigning premiers, but it just wasn't their night full stop as they were comprehensively beaten in just about every aspect on the ground.
Leading The Way
Conti was the Bulldogs' best player by the length of the Flemington Straight, and then some. She led all Bulldogs for disposals with 19 touches, as well as four tackles and she often tried to find a way to bring her team mates into the game, which is something I like, but like last week, I didn't think there were enough players that impacted on the game. Before she went off the ground, Blackburn tried hard for 12 disposals and two tackles, but the impact was down by her lofty standards.
Irish recruit Aisling McCarthy (12 disposals and one goal) I thought was outstanding in just her third game of AFLW. Compared to her debut game a couple of weeks ago, I truly believe she has quickly picked up how to play the game and where to run as a forward. She thoroughly deserved a goal and could've perhaps picked up one or two more – I thought it was great to see her shepherd through McLeod's goal in the final quarter. She will continue to improve each game and I can see her being a damn good player in a few years.
Others that I thought tried hard included Angelica Gogos, who had a game-high 11 tackles along with nine disposals, Emma Mackie was solid across half-forward and in the middle (14 disposals and three tackles) and Aisling Utri (15 disposals and three marks) had another good performance.
The Opposition
Where do you start with the Lions? They had winners on every line of the ground. Ally Anderson (20 disposals, four marks and five tackles) is in red-hot form and that continued on Saturday night. She was remarkable in the middle and was in the thick of it from beginning to end. Nat Exon (16 disposals, six tackles, four marks and a goal) was damaging all throughout the night, whilst I thought Breanna Koenen's game (14 disposals, three tackles and a goal) was also very good – particularly when the game was there for the taking.
The forwards proved way too good for the Bulldogs' defenders. Sabrina Frederick-Traub's battles with Lauren Spark last year went in the way of the latter, but on this night, as much as Spark tried, I thought Sabrina just took the points – could've won it easily if she had converted those close set-shots though. Kate McCarthy looked back to her best with two exceptional majors, whilst first-year players Jesse Tawhiao-Wardlaw (12 disposals and six marks) and Jacqui Yorston in her debut (eight disposals and nine tackles) were very impressive.
And as for the defenders, with captain Leah Kaslar a late out, they were all the more outstanding. Kate Lutkins continues to solidfy herself as one of the best key defenders in the game. Sam Virgo looked like she's slowly getting back into her 2017 form after missing all of last year. Shannon Campbell is a severely underrated defender and it showed last night when she played a big part shutting out Katie Brennan, whilst the likes of McKenzie Dowrick and Nat Grider (who was the replacement for Kaslar) looked at home as well.
Next Week
Whilst Brisbane sit atop of conference B, The Bulldogs now sit dead last in conference A with a win and significant percentage behind the top-two, the Bulldogs face a do-or-die clash next Sunday evening. Unfortunately, they're running into a Fremantle outfit that is in scintillating form, having won their first three games of the season before going down big-time against Adelaide in Darwin on the weekend.
Whichever way you look at the current situation, the Western Bulldogs' AFLW team are facing a serious uphill battle to keep up with the rest of Conference A.