Western Bulldogs 3.1 7.4 11.12 13.14.92
Brisbane Lions 4.4 6.8 8.9 11.10.76
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Naughton 3, Richards 2, Lloyd 2, Hayes, Wallis, Bontempelli, Macrae, Suckling, Dunkley
Brisbane Lions: Robinson 3, Hipwood 2, Zorko 2, Neale, Berry, McCluggage, McStay
Alex Docherty's Best
Western Bulldogs: Dunkley, Hunter, Macrae, Lloyd, Bontempelli, Naughton, Trengove Brisbane Lions: McCluggage, Robinson, Neale, Zorko, Witherden, Rich
Don't book your September holidays just yet. Without trying to go over the top here, the Western Bulldogs have re-announced themselves as a contender for Finals this year with a hard-fought 16-point win over the Brisbane Lions at a cold and wet Ballarat on Saturday afternoon. The win is the Dogs' second in a row, after previously dispatching Richmond and have equalled the win-loss record at 4-4 after eight weeks.
Some may read it differently, but I see this as a massive win against a side that will also be in contention for the final eight. At the beginning of the round, Brisbane were sitting in the top four with five wins from seven starts, however, they have only won once in their past six encounters with the Bulldogs – now make it one from the past seven.
As you would expect, Brisbane were up for the fight right from the get go. After Ed Richards opened up the account for the Bulldogs with his first of two majors of the term, the Lions hit back with two of their own, before Richards bobbed up again with a beauty from the pocket. For the most part of the first half, the game was more controlled by the Lions than it was the Dogs, despite them losing a man early
Leading by eight points at quarter time, the Brisbane Lions found themselves up by as much as 16 points in the second term. The scoreboard will indicate that they had more scoring shots, and realistically, should've been up by more. Eric Hipwood was the main culprit, kicking five behinds in the opening half. I'll cut him a tiny bit of slack because of the conditions, but he still had a few ones that he really should've kicked. It was because of his missed shots that saw Brisbane give up the lead to the Bulldogs on half time.
The Dogs took control from the halfway point of the second term, kicking the last three goals of the quarter. After taking a two-point lead into half time, the Bulldogs never relinquished the lead. The turning point came from Marcus Bontempelli who slotted home a difficult set shot given the conditions. The Dogs took the lead on half time when Aaron Naughton took a diving mark about 35 metres out on a tight angle, and slotted it home for his first of the day after the siren sounded.
Then it became mostly dominated by the Bulldogs. In the third quarter they had 18 inside 50s to Brisbane's 11, but for all their hard work, they could only get 4.8 – they led by as much as 20 points midway through the quarter, but they could've really put the Lions to the sword if they converted one or two of those eight behinds. After a quiet opening term, Naughton missed a couple of shots in the third term, but was on the end of a nice goal in which he had to work hard for.
The highlight of the term however, went to Brisbane's Mitch Robinson, who went back with the flight of the ball, took the mark, kept running and sent home a beauty from outside the 50 metre arc. It was that sort of effort, along with the Bulldogs wasted opportunities in front of goal, that kept the Lions in with a chance.
Much like the end of the second quarter, the Bulldogs got a goal after the siren – only this time it was to stretch the lead. It was left in the hands of someone who isn't a reliable shot on goal – Josh Dunkley. From about 25 metres out with not much angle to speak of, he usually sprays them everywhere but the desired target, but on this occasion, he puts it through for six points and made it a 21-point buffer at the final change.
Despite a ripping kick from Mitch Wallis early in the last quarter to make it a 27-point deficit, the Brisbane Lions would not go away. Dayne Zorko cancelled out Wallis' major shortly afterwards before a second goal to Eric Hipwood made things a little more interesting, reducing it to 16 points midway through the term. However, the Dogs stemmed what momentum the Lions had left, before Naughton again sealed the deal with a mark outside of the goal-square to make it win number four for the Bulldogs.
Leading The Way
Best on ground honours this week go to Josh Dunkley. I've been begging and crying for him to play more midfield minutes in the opening six rounds. Last week he had 35 disposals, this week he had himself an equal career-high 36 disposals and a personal best 22 contested possessions and 11 clearances. It still baffles me why Luke Beveridge neglected to put him there in the first place, considering he did a bloody good job of it towards the end of last year. Nonetheless, they say it's better late than never – so great to see him play some good footy.
Lachie Hunter (32 disposals, nine inside 50s and nine marks) played his role on the wing superbly, given the conditions and had arguably one of his best games of the season. Marcus Bontempelli (26 disposals, seven clearances, four tackles and one goal) and Jack Macrae (28 disposals, seven clearances, six inside 50s and one goal) were hard at it in the middle, whilst it's also worth noting that Matthew Suckling had a nice return of 21 disposals, five rebound 50s, six tackles and a goal.
Aaron Naughton's second half of the contest really swung thing in the momentum of the Bulldogs. You can argue now that in three of the four wins the Bulldogs have had in 2019, he's had a big say in it. He finished with 3.2 from 15 disposals and seven marks (two contested). I thought Jackson Trengove (21 disposals, 27 hitouts, six clearances, six tackles and three inside 50s) did a great job of manning the number one ruck slot on such short notice, with Tim English a late out, whilst Sam Lloyd enjoyed his best game in Bulldogs colours so far, kicking two goals from 19 disposals, six marks and five tackles.
The Opposition
Whilst I'm sure that Brisbane supporters would've been disappointed with the loss, there are plenty of positives for this group ahead. They can still be a Finals-contending team – this will just have to be one of these games that they have to learn from. A few of their younger kids struggled – Cam Rayner only had eight touches, Jarrod Berry had only eight touches in 65 percent game time and Zac Bailey unfortunately went off early with a hamstring injury.
One young Lion that didn't struggle was Hugh McCluggage, who had a monster first half of the game. He had 14 disposals at quarter time, and whilst the hot streak ran out by half time, he still finished with 26 disposals, seven tackles, five inside 50s and a goal – one of his best performances to date. Recruits Lachie Neale (30 disposals, five clearances and a goal) and Jarryd Lyons (25 disposals, five clearances, five tackles and six inside 50s) were very good, whilst captain Dayne Zorko (28 disposals, seven marks, seven clearances, seven tackles, seven inside 50s and two goals) was in the thick of it.
Another Brisbane player that I have been genuinely impressed with is Mitch Robinson, who has shown great maturity from his days at Carlton, without losing any of his hardness around the ball. He laid a game-high 11 tackles, along with 15 disposals, five marks, six inside 50s and three goals in a fine performance. It's also worth pointing out the games of Daniel Rich (21 disposals, seven rebound 50s and three clearances) and Alex Witherden (22 disposals, eight marks and seven rebound 50s) providing the drive off half back.