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Reviewing The One That Got Away

How good is the Footy? How good is it seeing your team dominate the ladder leaders for three quarters and have nothing to show for it? How good is it to see your team dominate for three quarters only to see them lose on a back of a poor third term?

Footy is so good that I was swearing, kicking the couch at every error and had to be restrained from throwing my remote at the TV at least a dozen times. That's how good.

Jokes aside, this was a much better effort from the Western Bulldogs if we were to compare it to the abomination against Richmond last Wednesday. Coming into this game against Port Adelaide, who have occupied the first position on the ladder since round one, I didn’t like the chances and I was half expecting them to have their pants pulled down again on their own dunghill.

But for the most part, the effort was there. The first quarter set the tone, as the Dogs heaped the pressure, were strong in the contested areas at ground level and forced Port into a few turnovers. Unfortunately, it might have been even more frustrating seeing the Bulldogs show so much more effort and seeing them generate an enormous amount of inside 50 entries for a very little return.

The Bulldogs had eight more inside 50 entries than the Power and dominated the clearances 12-6 in the first quarter for seven scoring shots. It should’ve been a much bigger lead than nine points. But as it’s often been the case since the premiership. When inside 50, it’s often missed more than struck.

However, the one thing that started to piss me off as the game progressed was how the ball was going inside 50. The opening five or so minutes, the ball was going in more direct and a lot lower. Port’s defenders are pretty good in the air. Tom Jonas is a good grab, Tom Clurey is a magnificent one-on-one defender and Trent McKenzie, Dan Houston and Darcy Byrne Jones are just as good in the air, as they are rebounding.

However, when the ball goes inside direct and low, it makes the Bulldogs look so much more dangerous. They stopped doing this in the second quarter and it became a stock-standard procedure of thump it inside 50 and good luck to the forwards. Not even just that, but the entries weren’t even deep entries. Most of them were high up-and-unders that landed approximately 35-40 metres out from goal.

Josh Bruce never stood a chance as the sole key forward and the likes of Mitch Wallis, Cody Weightman and Laitham Vandermeer are better suited at ground level. This team is missing Aaron Naughton and missing him badly. His marking hands are as good as any in competition, and I’d like to think that he would take some heat off of Bruce, because god he has had plenty of it come his way since Naughton went down with injury.

I was taught by my old man to never blame a loss on one player, but Jason Johannisen needs to be at most put on a microscope. In a game that was decided by 13 points, Johannisen coughed up the ball on three separate occasions and they all resulted in Port goals. The play before half time, where he recieved it in the middle from Hayden Crozier and then lazily handballed it back to him, which could’ve been read by first-grader. It was a turnover goal in a matter of seconds and that, to me, that switched the momentum completely in Port’s favour for the second half.

They made the most of it in the premiership quarter. It was everything you expected out of this Port team in 2020: They controlled, they pressured and they were dangerous every time they went forward. The Dogs’ backs were admirable, but they had no answers forward of centre, and it broke down every time. They could only go inside 50 three times in the third term and had nearly 40 less disposals than the Power, also six tackles in a quarter of footy is a woeful effort, considering that Port had the footy 93 times in that term.

Unfortunately, one quarter is all it takes against good sides sometimes and the Power looked bloody on from the first bounce of the second half. Charlie Dixon was marking in some unreal situations, Zak Butters was looking prominent, Tom Rockliff looked like he was back in freakin’ Brisbane and Peter Ladhams… Hardly heard of him, but he was looking bloody good against Tim English, but more of them later down the piece.

The fourth quarter was the Dogs’ best chance to get the game back on their terms, and whilst they succeeded in controlling play, winning the contested ball and actually playing more direct, they continued to pepper their chances in front of goal. They got scoring opportunities out of it, which is a positive – they at least picked up on that aspect in the last term, but finishing it off continues to be the massive issue with this club.

Until they sort that out and get rid of this ridiculous idea that they must have five or six handballs in succession before they have to kick it – that’s another big problematic at the Western Bulldogs that continues to shit me – bugger the flag, this team will struggle to make the eight. They started eighth before tonight, they’ll drop out of it by Saturday’s game against Brisbane.

I need to highlight of Josh Dunkley’s return. He was magnificent early and from the first bounce, you can tell that his presence certainly lifted the likes of those around him. 19 disposals, five clearances and seven tackles is a very nice return after a lengthy stint. Marcus Bontemepelli had a much better game than last week and looked like he was doing everything he could to try and drag his team over the line in the centre bounce in that last quarter.

I continue to marvel at Jack Macrae’s work ethic around the ground. Whilst he didn’t rack up as many possessions as last Wednesday, he still pulled out all the stops in the stoppages, and was there to provide run and dash out of defence. 27 disposals, seven tackles, five clearances, five inside 50s and a couple of rebound 50s to go along with it. Also massive props to Tom Liberatore for 25 possessions – 20 of those being contested. I certainly noticed him digging in.

I really liked Sam Lloyd’s game in this one. Whilst 2020 certainly hasn’t been his best year, both form-wise and injury-wise, but this was a good, solid game. Two goals from 15 disposals, six marks and seven score involvements. Bailey Williams put in a strong shift at half back: four marks, six intercepts and seven rebound 50s from 17 disposals as he continues to build together a very good year: Probably been one of the most improved from this Bulldogs team.

Also if Toby McLean gets dropped next week, I will start petitioning for Luke Beveridge’s sacking….Okay not really, but you get the jist of this. Maybe there are issues about where his best footy is, but I think playing that high half-forward role is his go. He bobbed up with two goals and should’ve added a third in the final term, but overall his application to the contest was fantastic. Five tackles, two clearances, three inside 50s, four score involvements and 13 disposals is a good return.

So we should probably talk about the Port boys huh? They won the match after all. There are still some glaring issues with the Power, but I think they’ll be in a good spot, whether they win the flag or not this year. They were monstered in the contest in the first quarter, and were beaten in the last quarter, but bounced back when they looked in dire straits in that second quarter.

Tom Rockliff’s presence in the midfield was unbelievably immense. 23 disposals, 15 tackles and four clearances in what was a hard slog in the middle is some unbelievable numbers. His efficiency was a bit of a let down at times, but there is no questioning how tough and committed he was to the contest.


However, I think the three votes come Brownlow night go to Zak Butters. In that third quarter, he was buzzing everywhere and had 11 of his 24 disposals in that term. Also in that third term, he had three clearances, three marks and three tackles. In a moment when Port needed someone to stand up, he was the standout, watch the play in the last quarter where he dived before the goal-line and palmed it to Kane Farrell. That's a young man committed to the cause.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this kid Ladhams will work in with Lycett due to come back in the coming weeks. I haven’t heard a great deal about him, but the word has been that he has been a terrific competitor. It was a pretty even in the hitouts, Ladhams winning 32-26, but his work around the ground was what got him the chocolates over another young ruck trying to impose himself on the league. 18 disposals, one goal, three marks and five clearances.

I think I might have mentioned earlier about Port being a very good aerial team. Well if my word isn’t good enough, maybe 21 contested marks to six in favour of the Power might see. Dixon took five of those and took Alex Keath to the cleaners. The others to take multiple contested marks were Trent McKenzie and Mitch Georgiades (Going to be a hell of a player this one) with three and Tom Clurey and Ladhams with two.

Sam Powell-Pepper stood up in the middle, especially when the Bulldogs dictated terms in the contest, Darcy Byrne-Jones continues to play underrated football, especially when he runs out of the defensive 50, and as much as I like Sam Mayes’ game overall, he needs to have a spell for his crude bump on Josh Dunkley in that first quarter. Oh and Ollie Wines’ game got better as the game progressed.

Well it’s on to Brisbane back in Queensland.

There’s not much else to really say. The Bulldogs blew it big time on this night, but they can take confidence that their endeavour and their midfield can play and match as good as anyone else in the league. It’s just about finding the class and the finish inside 50. Understand finding that is not an overnight job, but we’ve been waiting for some form of direction and structure when going forward for years now and here we are: we’re still waiting.

Western Bulldogs 2.5 3.5 3.6 5.12.42 Port Adelaide 1.2 3.2 7.5 8.7.55

Goals

Western Bulldogs: Lloyd 2, McLean 2, Weightman Port Adelaide: Dixon 2, Gray 2, Farrell, Ladhams, Powell-Pepper, Wines

Alex Docherty’s Best

Western Bulldogs: Macrae, Liberatore, Williams, Dunkley, Bontempelli, Lloyd Port Adelaide: Butters, Rockliff, Ladhams, Wines, Jonas, Powell-Pepper, Byrne-Jones

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