Western Bulldogs 0.2 0.7 0.7 5.8.38 Carlton 3.2 5.2 5.5 6.5.41
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Blackburn, Brennan, Huntington, McCarthy, Birch
Carlton: Walker 3, Dalton 2, Harris
Alex Docherty's Best
Western Bulldogs: Blackburn, Conti, McCarthy, Brennan, Birch, Ernst
Carlton: Davey, Walker, Prespakis, Dalton, Van Dyk, Harrington, Stevens
Comparing this game to the loss last week against Melbourne, this one hurts just as much. A three-point loss to Carlton on Sunday followed their one-point loss to the Demons the week before at Marvel Stadium. This was a pretty bizarre game of football in what was the second annual Pride Game at the Whitten Oval.
Last year, Carlton didn't register a score until the third quarter. They wasted no time on this occasion when Tayla Harris took a strong contested mark on Tiarna Ernst and kicked a beauty of a set-shot from long range. Carlton had a strong breeze in the opening term and made the most of it, launching another goal from long range through Brooke Walker, who had a shot from inside the centre square and went past a pack of players outside the goal square and trickled through. Walker made it two shortly afterwards to give the Blues a three-goal advantage at quarter time.
It was always going to be hard to kick against the breeze at Whitten Oval – I wasn't concerned just yet about the Bulldogs' chances of taking this game. The second quarter would've eventually costed them this game however – as they squandered a few good opportunities. By half-time, both teams had the same number of scoring shots, only Carlton had put on five goals – the Bulldogs just the seven behinds. Had Izzy Huntington or Ellie Blackburn converted simple opportunities on goal, then it might've been a different result.
I'll be honest, I had not heard about Brooke Walker before this weekend. After reading a little bit about her rugby sevens career – plus the fact she put in two goals against Brisbane a week earlier, it's fair to say she has my attention now. Especially when you've put three goals on last year's premiers. Another player who I know little about in Chloe Dalton – another former rugby sevens player – set up Walker's third goal and then kicked one herself as the Blues took made the Dogs pay for their inaccuracies.
With Carlton kicking with the wind in the third quarter, it was looking a bit more like Carlton by how much as opposed to whether or not the Bulldogs can get back into the contest. However, whilst some will call it a dull third term, the Bulldogs withstood Carlton's advances amazingly. The Blues had 12 inside 50s in the third term to the Bulldogs one, and only kept them to three behinds. Despite the fact that the Bulldogs had no goals up to three-quarter time, there was a sense that they weren't done in this game.
On this occasion, the sense was proven to be correct – as in the opening six minutes, three Bulldog goals were kicked and a 28-point lead was whittled down to just ten points. Katie Brennan got the Bulldogs' first goal from a free kick. Then it was Aisling McCarthy continuing her impressive debut season with a much-needed goal and very nice jig with Aisling Utri to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. From the next centre bounce, Libby Birch received a free kick in the middle, then got two fifty metre penalties to bring her to the goal square. Both penalties were dubious to say the least, but the Dogs were back in it.
But just as fate would have it, the football gods weren't having none of it. Izzy Huntington juggled a mark over the boundary line, Katie Brennan had a shot on goal that bounced the wrong way and at the other end, the football bounced over the head of Libby Birch, which led to Chloe Dalton kicking the sealer. Admire the way the Bulldogs carried out this game. Ellie Blackburn kicked a ripper and Izzy Huntington kicked one after the siren to make it a three-point game.
It is disappointing to know that the result would've been different if one of the five behinds were goals. But I think it is still an encouraging sign for the Bulldogs as they look towards 2020.
Leading The Way
Ellie Blackburn and Monique Conti were outstanding in the middle. Conti (25 disposals, four marks and three tackles) continued to shine as she challenges Blackburn for the club's best and fairest award this year. The Bulldogs' co-captain backed up her strong performance last Saturday with 23 disposals, five marks, two tackles and kicked 1.2 when she went up forward. I liked her match-up with Maddy Prespakis early and I think she taught the Carlton young gun a thing or two in the middle.
The other Bulldogs' co-captain Katie Brennan was solid again. I'm glad she's got through a full-season after being so injury-riddled the first two seasons. Kicking 1.1 off 13 disposals, three tackles and two marks, I thought that when she was up forward, she was the Doggies' most threatening. Another shoutout to Aisling McCarthy, who had 16 disposals, five tackles, three marks and a goal – again improving as the weeks go by, and hopefully she'll play in the VFLW this year – the sky will be the limit if she can continue to work on her craft – her first year exceeded all expectations.
Furthermore, I have to give some credit to the Bulldogs defenders in general. Libby Birch held Darcy Vescio to just seven touches and no score to back up the good job she did on her last year. Tiarna Ernst had her hands full against Tayla Harris but I thought she was overall impressive and completed a solid year in defence after playing predominantly as a ruck. Not once, but twice she ran down Tilly Lucas-Rodd as Carlton were looking to further their lead.
The Opposition
A lot of intrigue surrounds Carlton now as they are set to play a red-hot Fremantle side in one of two preliminary finals. This win makes it four wins in five games, with that one loss a game they really should've won also, when they went down to Geelong by a couple of points. Do they deserve to play finals ahead of North Melbourne – who belted them in round one – and Melbourne? Probably not, but it is what it is, and Carlton have shown they have improved significantly from last year – who knows what will happen?
Carlton captain Brianna Davey (21 disposals and 11 tackles) was outstanding and led from the front from the Blues. I don't think I can stress enough about how much Maddy Prespakis impacts the contest. Another strong performance that saw her record 19 disposals and four tackles – and the scary thing is, she's going to get better at just 18 years of age.
We've mentioned Walker's three goals and Dalton's pair earlier – they've been just a couple of many good finds in this Carlton side this year – Jayde Van Dyk is another real find. A star in the VFLW last year – club best and fairest winner at Hawthorn and a league Rising Star award as well. She was terrific in defence on Sunday (13 disposals, four marks and three tackles) and I thought she was pretty composed all day. Kerryn Harrington kept Izzy Huntington out of the game for large portions and Nicola Stevens was back to her 2017 best, being that intercept defender.