If the losing margin was kept to around the 3-4 goal mark, as it was for most of the night, yeah I wouldn’t have been too non-fussed about Carlton winning.
There is not a doubt in my mind that for the most part of this game, they were the better team on the night. Quite a few people still seem to discredit the Blues because of them being bottom-feeders in the competition for years. But they have claimed some big wins this year. Geelong in Geelong and they’re the only team that has beaten Essendon this year. Jury’s still out on them, but they keep on winning. Does top eight beckon? Well anything is possible in 2020.
Carlton from the first bounce were switched on. Their pressure outstanding and combined with the wet and slippery conditions, meant that it was always going to be hard to get a good handle on the footy. But that first quarter had to be one of the most frustrating things to watch as a Bulldogs supporter. They looked to handball at every opportunity, as if it was a dry-weather game and paid the price with too many fumbles. The Blues adapted the conditions much better early and that pretty much set the tone for the evening.
Early on, Carlton were dominating the clearances, which also contributed to their dominance on the scoreboard early. But after quarter time, the Bulldogs got more and more acclimatized to the conditions as the game progressed. There looked a bigger focus after quarter time to just boot it forward as opposed to handballing it four or five times in a row without kicking it. But just as it looked like the Dogs gathered any momentum, it was met with a Carlton goal which kept the ledger to around 20 points.
When Marcus Bontempelli kicked that goal before three quarter time to make it a three goal game, it felt like there was some hope and momentum back in the Dogs’ favour. Then the fourth quarter happened.
For the first three minutes of that final term, it was all Dogs. They had multiple inside 50 entries inside those opening minutes, but much like the rest of the evening, couldn’t get it on the board. Laitham Vandermeer - played a pretty good game all night to be honest - misses a pretty easy shot on goal, that would’ve made it a two goal game. But just like that, the Blues got it the other end and pushed the margin back out to four goals.
And from there, it was an avalanche of disaster if you supported the red, white and blue. The Blues dominated everything, whilst the Bulldogs looked more like witches hats. Maybe fatigued kicked in, I like to think that - but they just couldn’t run with them. The defensive transitioning was at its worst, not since the St. Kilda game did they let too many players run out the back. Far too often the Blues took out of defensive 50 way too easy and in turn, the players up the ground often had five or ten metres on a Bulldog player. That to me, was the most frustrating thing about being a Bulldog supporter last night.
I acknowledge Harry McKay is a good player, but it’s always the Dogs that make him look like the second coming of Tony Lockett. I don’t rate Mitch McGovern, but he looked like every cent of what the Blues are paying him and Eddie Betts, we made him to look like he was back in his prime. Three weeks of good work spoiled by a night of ineptitude of defensive transitioning and a lack of finish up forward is enough to tip any Bulldog off the edge.
The Dogs had 12 more inside 50s, but lost by 52 - how in the hell does that happen? It’s easy to jot down rubbish inside 50 use, but I actually thought it wasn’t too bad. Just the lack of finishing, which has bee a key issue for years nowThe Blues were structured up nicely - Jacob Weitering and Liam Jones did their jobs as key backs and Kade Simpson was running everything out of defensive 50. Where was the pressure from the Bulldogs? The Bulldogs forwards looked lazy and it’s no wonder the Blues were able to run and transition up the ground with such ease.
What makes it better if you’re a Blues fan, is that the co-captains had very little impact. Patrick Cripps hurt his shoulder in the opening term and didn’t do a great deal afterwards - you can see what sort of injury it was, it definitely impacted him. Sam Docherty didn’t get hurt, but it looked as if the Dogs watched how the Saints made him accountable the week before and did the same thing. Still contributed to the defensive running, but not as damaging as he has been this year.
It was left to those such as Sam Walsh, who looked more like the Rising Star winner last year. Matt Kennedy, who is a talent I have always rated. The evergreen Ed Curnow, and young boys Will Setterfield and Sam Petrevski-Seton to stand up and get the engine running for the Blues. Jacob Weitering blanketed Josh Schache and kept him to just two disposals. Marc Pittonet beat Tim English in the hitouts by six, but I felt as if his hitouts were more so to advantage.
Levi Casboult looked a million dollars every time he got his hands on the footy and Jack Martin was lethal when he had the ball in his hands. And Michael Gibbons, it’s good to see him playing good footy. He deserves every good thing his way after working his tail off in the VFL for years. He’s not the quickest, the tallest or the strongest, but by god his football smarts and skill with the footy absolutely tore apart whatever defensive structure the Bulldogs had.
If we’re taking positives out of the Bulldogs, I said last week that Lachie Hunter should be kept out of the team. Following last night, I’ll put my hand up this weekend and say I was wrong and a few chaps on Twitter were quick to point it out too. He was one of a few that looked like he was trying for four quarters and led all comers on the ground with 27 disposals. Bailey Smith too - who continues to press his claims as the number one midfielder in the 2018 Draft, he runs, works hard and doesn’t waste many of his disposals - I love that he got stuck into Sam Walsh as well - he knows he can play just as good, if not better than Walsh.
Jack Macrae was everywhere as he usually is and Marcus Bontempelli was much better this week, but still had to shake the Curnow tag for most of the night and Tom Liberatore worked hard for his footy. Vandermeer was probably the most effective forward of the game, which might not say a great deal considering the fact that not many forwards got near the footy, but his pressure, his ability to get in the right spots and willingness to take the game on at every opportunity is encouraging to say the least.
The defence of the Western Bulldogs you can tell was sorely lacking Hayden Crozier. Louis Butler came in for his second game as the replacement. Whilst he had 16 touches, he had a number of moments where he was caught out of position and the Carlton forwards were on to it. He got taught a few lessons, and whilst he was not the worst player on the ground, I think this will be one of those games where he will be better off for it.
Zaine Cordy and Alex Keath battled hard, but when the Blues were churning up uncontested ball further up the ground it’s always going to be hard to get the wood on the opponents. Easton Wood couldn’t get near it - a stark contrast to last week where he marked everything in sight, and Caleb Daniel found himself one-out with taller opposition again, which probably speaks of the issues in defence on Sunday night. Which is a shame, because they’ve done such a good job of keeping teams to such low scores over the past three weeks.
I suppose the good thing is that the Dogs must look past this game, because the Bombers await on Friday night. That’ll be interesting considering Essendon haven’t beaten them since 2014. It’ll be a game worth responding to. The Bombers are a side that whilst, not convincing, are still putting wins on the board and in a year where there are fewer games, wins are as valuable as they’ve ever been.
I do have to tip my hat to Carlton again. Hell, they’re even in the eight - that’s a surprise! I hope they can surprise a few more teams and many more people this year - their best is actually pretty good to watch and that was something that was needed yesterday, because the other two games that were played yesterday, I’d struggle to find the words to say how appalling they were, but let’s just say that I’d have more fun doing overtime at my job.
Western Bulldogs 2.1 5.2 7.6 7.9.51 Carlton 5.2 8.5 10.6 16.7.103
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Vandermeer 2, Smith, Dale, Lipinski, Wallis, Bontempelli Carlton: Betts 4, McKay 3, Gibbons 2, Martin 2, McGovern 2, Curnow, Newnes, Casboult
Alex Docherty’s Best
Western Bulldogs: Smith, Hunter, Macrae, Bontempelli, Vandermeer, Cordy Carlton: Gibbons, Martin, Setterfield, McKay, Curnow, Petrevski-Seton, Betts
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