Western Bulldogs 7.1 9.3 14.9 19.12.126
GWS Giants 5.3 9.6 9.10 9.11.65
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Schache 3, Lloyd 2, Naughton 2, Dale 2, Dickson 2, Lipinski 2, Dunkley 2, Hunter, B. Smith, Richards, Duryea
GWS Giants: Greene 2, Himmelberg 2, Keeffe 2, Whitfield, Kennedy, Tomlinson
Alex Docherty’s Best
Western Bulldogs: Dunkley, Macrae, Lipinski, Bontempelli, Johannisen, Le. Young, Hunter
GWS Giants: Williams, Whitfield, Greene, Taranto, Haynes, Davis
It becomes a very simple equation now for the Western Bulldogs – Win next weekend and you’re in.
The Doggies are in the box seat for that last spot in September after thumping Greater Western Sydney by 61 points after a second-half rout. Losses to Adelaide and Port Adelaide on the weekend meant the Doggies jumped a game ahead of the two South Australian clubs with one game to go. Furthermore, the big win along with the embarrassing losses to both the Crows and the Power mean that the Bulldogs have also got superior percentage in comparison.
The final round of the 2019 season sees the Bulldogs play the Crows in Ballarat – which is a game that they should win, given the Crows recent record. Win it and they can punch their ticket to Finals Football for the first time since their magical run in 2016. Speaking of magical, their trip to Giants Stadium was the first time they played there since the 2016 preliminary final. They could very well find themselves back their in a couple of weeks – permitting results of course.
Aside from Richmond and Brisbane, there is no other team that has hit form at the right time of the season quite like the Western Bulldogs. They backed up a stunning 104-point win last week with another fantastic showing here. It has been a while since the Doggies have genuinely put sides to the sword and to see them doing this at this stage of the season, will genuinely have the other sides in the eight sweating profusely in fear.
Let’s talk the game. The Bulldogs piled on the first three goals of the game – all of them on the back of horrendous turnovers in the defensive half. They kicked four of the first five goals of the match to open up a nice lead before the Giants settled and started to flex their muscle a little bit – making it a very free-flowing and high-scoring game of football, but the Dogs held firm to take a 10-point lead into quarter time.
There were some tense and nervous moments throughout the second term, as the Giants had their way for a little while, kicking the first four goals of the second term to open up a 15-point lead. Lead by two goals from Footscray’s number one enemy Toby Greene and a cracking effort from Harry Himmelberg, the Giants were in the box seat heading towards half time. The Dogs had their chances, recording four more inside 50s for the term, but broke down with errant kicks favouring Nick Haynes and Phil Davis.
The turning point came in the battle of Marcus Bontempelli and Giants’ pest Matt De Boer. The Bont had been receiving some attention for the entire first half and some of the tactics had the Bulldog fired up before half time. It also helped the cause when Heath Shaw got himself revved up and carried on like a bit of a halfwit towards Sam Lloyd. But not too long after those moments, the Dogs bobbed up with two goals before half time to take turn it into a three-point deficit into the main break.
Another big talking point was the Giants’ capitulation against the Hawks in Canberra last weekend. They had kicked only four goals for the entire match, but none in the second half. On Sunday they got a very unwanted distinction of being the first team since University in 1911 to go consecutive weeks without a goal in the second half. They had their chances in the opening part of the third quarter to right this, but could not do so, with misses from Greene, Tim Taranto and Lachie Whitfield.
From the moment Bailey Smith kicked his goal from long range, the Bulldogs had their way with their orange counterparts. Each goal was like watching them belting this machine to the point where they broke down into a pile of rubble. 10 goals to nothing in the second half and 12 consecutive goals to round out the game speaks enough – the Bulldogs are piecing together a serious challenge to the rest of the competition.
The facts state that the Bulldogs have won seven of their 10 games since the bye and they have beaten five of the seven sides that sit above them on the ladder. All there is to do is put away Adelaide in Ballarat next week and the Bulldog faithful can properly start to dream of how far they can go in 2019 and beyond. It is genuinely in their hands at this stage.
Leading The Way
They were led again by the pair of Jack Macrae and Josh Dunkley. Again, I’d say Dunkley had the more influential game, but don’t underestimate the work that Macrae did on Sunday. Macrae had a game-high 39 disposals, along with seven clearances and five inside 50s, but it was Dunkley’s 31 disposals, 10 tackles, eight clearances, six marks and two goals that will arguably get him the three votes come Brownlow night.
If Dunkley isn’t the team’s most improved, then Patrick Lipinski would have to be the one who has improved out of sight. Since coming into the team in round 10, he has hardly put a foot wrong in the side and on Sunday, he produced another beauty, recording 27 disposals, seven marks, seven tackles and kicking two goals. I also liked Lewis Young’s game in defence, who came in as a late in for Tim English – he was influential in the contests after quarter time and finished up with 17 disposals, seven marks and six rebound 50s.
Marcus Bontempelli shook the De Boer tag to finish with 27 disposals, eight clearances and seven tackles for the match in what was a solid performance under enormous pressure. Jason Johannisen played one of his better games of the season (27 disposals, four tackles and six rebound 50s) and Lachie Hunter (25 disposals, five marks, six inside 50s and one goal) was also in good touch on the weekend.
The Opposition
The Giants play the Gold Coast in their final game of the home and away season, and whilst it’s already confirmed that they will play finals this year, there are going to be questions heading into September. They have still got some talented players on this list and the injury list has got a fair few of their best 22 out of the team from Sunday, but what about their depth?
Zac Williams (27 disposals, five rebound 50s and five tackles) busted his backside off and had some support from the likes of Toby Greene (24 disposals, two goals and six inside 50) and Lachie Whitfield (31 disposals, one goal, six marks and seven clearances), whilst Tim Taranto continues what is a superb 2019 campaign (28 disposals, seven tackles and four clearances). Nick Haynes and Phil Davis were also solid down back, but they didn’t have much support from the rest of the team.
Josh Kelly had 25 possessions at 56 percent efficiency. Adam Tomlinson didn’t have much impact around the ground. Heath Shaw was undisciplined in stages, and could’ve done with more from the likes of Sam Reid, Harry Perryman, Brent Daniels and Lachie Keeffe – who kicked two goals in the opening term and did stuff-all after quarter time. I’ll be a bit more lenient on Ian Hill, Jye Caldwell and Zach Sproule on his debut game, but they were largely ineffective.