Western Bulldogs 6.3 10.3 16.6 21.11.137 Essendon 1.1 1.3 1.7 4.9.33
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Dickson 3, Schache 3, Dale 3, McLean 3, Naughton 2, Hayes 2, Lloyd, Johannisen, Smith, Dunkley, Macrae Essendon: Baguley 2, McDonald-Tipungwuti, Shiel
Alex Docherty’s Best
Western Bulldogs: Dunkley, Macrae, Bontempelli, McLean, Hunter, Hayes, English Essendon: Merrett, McGrath, Langford, Shiel, Redman, Baguley
As I sit here writing this review on a Monday evening, it still feels surreal just processing the result of this game. Sure, I was very confident on the Western Bulldogs beating the Essendon Bombers, but not in my wildest dreams was I going to watch such a dismantling of a side. A 104-point belting of a fellow top eight aspirant in Essendon surely would have some supporters believing in the side once again.
Let’s be honest, they probably should’ve beaten Brisbane up in Queensland last week. They had enough of the footy, but were just entirely wasteful in the opening half. This week was an entirely different tune. I’ve been reading more about how abysmal the Bombers were – and perhaps they deserve every ounce of criticism that came there way. But perhaps, we haven’t heard enough about how clinical the Dogs were.
It took 20 seconds into the match for the Bombers to kick their first goal of the match through their prized recruit in Dylan Shiel. But they would not kick another one until the 21st minute of the final quarter. How they manage to do that, is completely dumbfounding, but the stats won’t lie, they were completely outmuscled, outworked and outmatched. They made six changes at the selection table and granted, they’ve had a few injuries to key players, but that excuse will only go so far.
From Essendon’s first goal until their second – which by the way, went 108 minutes between goals – The Bulldogs piled on 21 unanswered goals and led by as much as 117 points. Not since round one in the 2006 season had the Bulldogs beat a team by triple figures. They had been close a couple of times since, but they hadn’t had a 100-point win in over a decade. Their 21 consecutive goals comes second to only Geelong’s 23 goals against Fremantle last year for the most goals kicked in a row.
The game wasconsidered over by quarter time, but it was just about made sure by half time, when the margin opened up from a 32-point quarter time lead to a 54-point deficit. Any notion of a comeback ala Round 6, 2015 was blown out the window with a further six goals to nil in the third quarter to bump it out to an 89-point lead at the final break.
The statistics will give you a damning indicator about how dominant the Bulldogs were, or how bad Essendon – depending on who you support or what kind of narrative you took from the game. From me, it’s a bit of both. The Bulldogs got enough of the ball to cause some havoc on the scoreboard. What Essendon struggled with, is that they had over 100 disposals – 125 if we’re being specific – and 34 contested possessions less than the Bulldogs – that’s allowing them way too many looks at the footy.
Further adding to the pain of the Bombers faithful, is that the Bulldogs had nearly 100 more uncontested possessions and for all the disposals that they had, they recorded one more tackle than the Bombers. What does this tell you? Essendon did not work hard enough on either end of the ground and for a side that currently sits a game ahead of ninth place, is – in a word – poor. If they somehow play Finals this year, they won’t last the first week. But that’s enough about them, I’m sure they’ve copped far worse throughout the weekend.
As for the Bulldogs, this sets up a massive final fortnight. Starting with a GWS team that have been very up and down this year, but if this result is any indicator, they are every chance to take home another four points and continue their charge towards September. I don’t think there would’ve been many players who had off days, they just simply had their way with them.
Leading The Way
Josh Dunkley set the scene with a 16 disposal first quarter and even kicked a goal towards the end of the opening term. Between him and Jack Macrae, they were almost inseparable for man of the match honours. But I gave it to Dunkley for his stunning performance when the game was in the balance in the early goings. He finished with 39 disposals, six clearances, four inside 50s and four marks to go along with his goal. Macrae had Dylan Clarke for company early, but he finished with 38 disposals, five clearances, eight tackles, eight inside 50s and one goal.
Marcus Bontempelli (26 disposals, seven clearances, eight tackles and five inside 50s) was again superb, but Saturday night also saw the best games from the likes of Toby McLean (22 disposals, five marks, four tackles and three goals) and Will Hayes (22 disposals, two goals, seven marks and five inside 50s) – guys who have found themselves in and out of the side this year. Another who has been in and out of the side has been Bailey Dale, who has continued his purple patch of form, kicking another three goals from 19 disposals and five inside 50s.
Lachie Hunter (34 disposals and nine marks) had a very solid game on the wing, Tim English had less hitouts than Zac Clarke, but absolutely throttled him around the ground (17 disposals, 20 hitouts, five inside 50s and five marks), Taylor Duryea showed his worth in defence once again (22 disposals, seven marks and four rebound 50s) and Patrick Lipinski (27 disposals, four marks, four tackles and six inside 50s) played a very good game).
The Opposition
Without trying to be too critical off Essendon’s performance, there were quite a few Bombers that were off the pace and perhaps off by a fair margin. I think of Orazio Fantasia (eight touches), Jake Stringer (seven touches), Cale Hooker didn’t have a big impact, David Myers had 11 disposals for zero impact, David Zaharakis only had 13 disposals, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti had minimal impact and Mitch Brown needed to do more than what he produced on Saturday night.
I could go on and on about the Dons that disappointed and badly. But how about the ones that were at least okay? I admired Zach Merrett’s individual performance in a game where not many stood out. He had 33 disposals, eight marks, seven rebound 50s, five clearances and six tackles in a big effort, but unfortunately there weren’t many others who helped.
Dylan Shiel (23 disposals, four tackles and three clearances along with his goal) I thought tried hard, as did Andrew McGrath (21 disposals, five tackles and three inside 50s). Kyle Langford (24 disposals, four clearances, four tackles and six marks) was okay. I liked Mason Redman’s game in defence (16 disposals, five marks and five tackles) Mark Baguley kicked two goals from 10 disposals and five marks, but given that they nearly had 30 less inside 50s than the Dogs, that’s somewhat of a plus.