Western Bulldogs 2.7 4.10 7.10 10.12.72
West Coast 3.1 7.3 16.5 21.7.133
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Gowers 2, Dunkley, Naughton, Lloyd, Bontempelli, Dale, Liberatore, Suckling, Gardner
West Coast: Darling 6, Kennedy 3, Waterman 3, Ryan 3, Cripps 2, Yeo, Sheed, Allen, Rioli
Alex Docherty's Best
Western Bulldogs: Dunkley, Daniel, Liberatore, Johannisen, Bontempelli, Lipinski
West Coast: Gaff, Darling, Shuey, Sheppard, Sheed, Waterman, Yeo
The two certanties in life are death and taxes. When it comes to adding into a third certanty in life, surely the Western Bulldogs losing in Perth would have to be up there. It was another frustrating game to watch out West on Sunday as the Bulldogs took it right up to the West Coast Eagles for a half at least, before the reigning premiers flexed their muscle in the third term to run out 61-point winners.
Nothing made me more frustrated than watching this team continue to butcher their opportunities in front of goal. There was certainly no questioning the effort, as the Bulldogs had more control of the footy and leading up to the forward 50, they ran hard, used the ball well and at times, delivered inside 50 very nicely. Unfortunately, there were other times that saw the ball pumped in long and deep inside 50 and it resulted in rushed behinds – a partial reason to why there were so many behinds than goals.
However, Aaron Naughton has a shot on goal from about 40 metres out with not a lot of angle – I love how he plays but he has to make the most of those opportunities. Tom Liberatore snaps from the pocket but it just hits the post. Marcus Bontempelli sprays a shot from close range – albeit it was a snap around the corner. These are the kind of shots this team needs to make in the future. The Bulldogs had 13 inside 50s in the first term for a return of 2.7 – it's just not good enough, and really, they should've been up by a couple of goals at least.
What was a little more frustrating for me at least is seeing the Eagles transition the ball a few times so easily and it resulted in goals – some easy like Jack Darling from dead in front and some difficult like Josh Kennedy's shot from near the boundary, 40 metres out. The second quarter was more of the same. Billy Gowers misses a very gettable shot 35 metres out to put the Dogs in front, but it was Naughton who got them a goal ahead shortly afterwards.
After goals from Darling and Kennedy put the Eagles ahead again, debutant Ryan Gardner had a free kick in the pocket to square things up. However, true to the form of the rest of the team, he shanks it – I swear this problem is a contagious issue sometimes. He was made to pay for it as in a matter of seconds, the Eagles transitioned the ball up the other end and it was finished beautifully by Elliot Yeo. It was a promising first half and the Dogs were only down by 11 points at the main break.
Unfortunately, that's as close as they got for the rest of the game. Much has been talked about the Eagles and a few of their unconvincing wins so far in 2019. Keep in mind that they also faced drubbings at the hands of Brisbane, Port Adelaide and Geelong. But their third quarter was as clinical as I've seen from them this year. As for the Bulldogs, well it's easy to point out that they just had nothing to respond and barely gave a whimper.
But the Eagles were that on song, there wouldn't have been much else they could do to stay in the fight. The Eagles piled on nine goals in the third quarter. By the midway point of that term, I think this side reaked of a team that had no answers and just had the expression of one that was defeated – one that had lost. The margin was 49 at three quarter time, the game-high margin was 74 points before the Doggies kicked three of the last four goals to make it a 10-goal difference at the end.
4-7 heading into the bye this week. Not many teams need it quite like the Bulldogs, because they are staring at the barrel of another bad year. This team is such a hard team to assess this year, the gap between their best and their worst is astronomical – their best is pretty good and it matched the Eagles for a half on Sunday, their worst is absolutely putrid as we have seen a fair bit over the course of the year.
Leading The Way
One player that has been super consistent this year has been Caleb Daniel. I absolutely love him off half-back. He finds the footy, often uses it well and has been the one that generates the transition out of the backline more often than not. On Sunday he had 34 disposals, eight rebound 50s and four clearances in another massive game. He would be one of a few in the running for the club best and fairest right now. Another that had a great game was Josh Dunkley, who has been in fine form over the past month and a bit. He kicked the first goal of the game at a time when the Bulldogs were wasteful with their opportunities. He finished the match with 33 disposals, six clearances, five marks and four tackles. Tom Liberatore (27 disposals, seven marks, five clearances, four inside 50s and a goal) also battled hard for most of the game, as did Marcus Bontempelli (27 disposals, four tackles, three inside 50s and a goal).
I thought Jason Johannisen played his best game this year, recording 32 disposals, four rebound 50s and three inside 50s playing both as a half-back/wing type player. Tim English (10 disposals, 27 hitouts, four tackles, five marks) had a much better game this week, matching up with Nathan Vardy, Sam Lloyd (21 disposals, eight marks, five inside 50s and one goal) was productive and Patrick Lipinski (23 disposals and seven marks) was solid in his second game of the season.
The Opposition
Hard to split the best Eagle on the ground between Jack Darling and Andrew Gaff. Both men had have had their critics this season – Darling and his impact on games, Gaff and his disposal efficiency. I think both of them silenced those critics on Sunday. Darling kicked six goals from 15 disposals and six marks. Gaff continued his great form against the Dogs with 36 disposals, eight marks, six clearances and seven inside 50s. Gaff's starring role in the middle was well supported by the usuals. Luke Shuey (30 disposals, five marks and five inside 50s), Elliot Yeo (23 disposals, seven clearances, three tackles and a goal) and Dom Sheed (25 disposals, seven clearances, seven marks and one goal) were all in good touch – particularly in the second half when they really turned the jets on.
I haven't been a big Jake Waterman fan so far in his early career, but yesterday I thought was one of his best games to date. He kicked three goals in the third quarter to really send the result beyond doubt and also finished up with 22 disposals and seven marks, playing his role as a third tall to Darling and Kennedy (who finished with three goals) to perfection.
In defence, Brad Sheppard (22 disposals, 10 marks and five rebound 50s) was outstanding. Jeremy McGovern, Shannon Hurn and even Liam Duggan were also solid in the back six without playing a starring roles. Those three combined for 20 marks and 13 rebound 50s. All four will no doubt play important roles for the Eagles as they search for back-to-back flags.