Western Bulldogs 1.0 2.3 2.3 4.6.30 Carlton 3.1 3.1 5.3 8.3.51
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Georgostathis, McLeod, Lamb, Toogood Carlton: Gee 3, Vescio, Brazzale, Harris, McEvoy, Stevens
Alex Docherty’s Best
Western Bulldogs: Huntington, Blackburn, McCarthy, Newton, Lochland, Rennie
Carlton: Prespakis, Gee, McEvoy, Laloifi, Pound, Stevens, Harris
It was a game dubbed as a redemption match for both Carlton and the Western Bulldogs on Saturday.
Whilst both teams did plenty to suggest that they had bounced back, there still had to be a winner and a loser. For Carlton, they were the better team for longer and that was the catalyst to their second-straight pride game victory on Saturday, withstanding an early onslaught in the last quarter from the Dogs to record a 21-point victory in front of a Whitten Oval crowd that was in excess of 8200 spectators.
The Blues led from the outset, kicking with a breeze that favoured the Gordon Street end and in the opening 10 minutes, they pressured the Bulldogs into submission and kicked three goals in the span of nearly four minutes. After Lucy McEvoy drilled home the Blues’ third goal of the match, the Bulldogs settled in and took to task of chipping away at the deficit. A Bonnie Toogood goal against the breeze was beneficial heading into the second term.
Sure enough, the Dogs had the control for pretty much all of the second term, but for all their hard work, they could only put on the board 1.3 - which as hindsight now shows - separated the Dogs from the Blues by full-time. There were a couple of shots that they needed to convert and unfortunately it didn’t go to plan. Which meant it was advantage Carlton, as they were up by four points and had the wind heading into the third term.
I think Nathan Burke and the Bulldogs knew this, the ball must’ve been situated inside the entire forward half for the Blues for the entirety of the third quarter. But this is where I was definitely encouraged by the Bulldogs. They conceded 14 inside 50 entries in the third term without having one themselves, but only let in two goals for the entire quarter. If it was the same conditions last week against Melbourne, they would’ve let in maybe four, five or six.
This meant that they needed some inspiring efforts in the last quarter to try and will the team over the line. Kirsten McLeod had a moment of brilliance where she outran Vaomua Laloifi for the ball on the wing, managed to skip past Kerryn Harrington inside 50 and then was so close to threading through an unbelievable goal from the boundary. She got her reward moments later when she was on the end of a brilliant snap on the opposite pocket.
Despite an opportunistic Darcy Vescio goal moments later, the Dogs kept pushing. A goal from Kirsty Lamb brought them to nine-points midway through the term. If you watched the game, you just knew the Bulldogs were going for broke. Unfortunately they ran out of gas as Nicola Stevens was on the end of a pass in the forward pocket and threaded through a neat set-shot, followed through with Georgia Gee kicking her third goal of the match to put it to bed.
It was frustrating to see games like this slip in the critical moments, but when I look back at it, they did well to try and get it back to the margin they did, especially with Angelica Gogos going down early with a knee injury. I’ve got good faith in the women as they face a good opportunity to get a rare away win in the West against the Eagles.
Leading The Way
Returning from a head knock this week, I thought Izzy Huntington was outstanding as the general in defence. She read the play beautifully all throughout the match and was able to pluck some very good grabs. She finished with 15 disposals, 14 of those kicks and most of them hit targets. She also finished with seven marks and four tackles for the match. Without her, I think the Blues would’ve won by a lot more and this performance outlines how important she is going forward.
That’s not discounting the efforts of Ellie Blackburn (20 disposals and four tackles) and Aisling McCarthy (16 disposals and four marks) in the middle. I thought both, with the opposing midfield that they had to contend with, were simply brilliant and provided such a tough physical battle in the centre. I also thought Gabby Newton - floating between half-forward and in the middle - was very good and is piecing together a very nice debut season, finishing with 14 disposals, three marks and four tackles.
Another player that made her return from injury this week was an important player to the Bulldogs’ set-up and that was Brooke Lochland. She was playing a bit further up the ground as opposed to the position that saw her torture Carlton supporters everywhere a couple of years ago. I liked what I saw - 13 disposals, five tackles and two marks. Everyone knows how quick she can be, but her work-rate and use of the ball by foot perhaps go a fraction unnoticed.
The Opposition
For the first two weeks, teams have been trying to figure out how to negate the influence of Maddy Prespakis. Last week she didn’t make much impact against the Pies, but this week she turned the final quarter into the Maddy Prespakis Show, she won important contested ball, and did everything she could in the defensive half to make sure the Doggies didn’t get a chance to score. She finished with 24 disposals, six tackles and three marks in a performance that should surely get her the three votes.
I was also very impressed with another young gun in Lucy McEvoy. She started forward, but got into the game as a midfielder and was a huge presence in there as the game got tight and close. She finished with 19 disposals, three tackles and three marks in a game that will help her push for that Rising Star award, with the likes of Georgia Patrikios and Roxanne Roux pressing big claims the past few weeks. Georgia Gee's three goals for the match was critical, and to be quite fair, her work as a forward flies under the radar too much.
Tayla Harris and Nicola Stevens were imposing, just a week after both struggled to make any impact whatsoever. Harris (13 disposals, four tackles, four marks and a goal) was just as effective in the air as she was at ground level this week, whilst Stevens (9 disposals, six marks and a goal) provided good leads and showed that she was a good option up forward. Vaomua Laloifi (14 disposals and five marks) and Gab Pound (16 disposals and three tackles) provided such composed heads in defence.