It was a game that had all the bearings of a potential game of the year candidate in the lead-up. Whilst the game itself might not have been the high-scoring, back and forth, free-flowing sort of game that gets bums on seats, this was still a very tense game of football that had momentum swings all throughtout the game.
The wet conditions meant that it was always going to be chaotic as opposed to a free-wheeling sort of game. At the end, it was the Western Bulldogs that got the win on the back of incredible determination and phenomenal grit. It almost springs to mind back to the SCG in 2015. Obviously different opposition, but the manner it was played drew comparisons, and the result was a Bulldogs win too, so there's that.
After controlling the opening five or so minutes of the game for a meagre return of 1.3 - the Suns then dominated general play up until the final minutes of half-time. They recorded a staggering 16 inside 50s in the second term for a return of just one goal. Whilst the Bulldogs had struggled largely to get it past forward of centre - defensively, they set themselves up very well. Alex Keath and Zaine Cordy both saved the Dogs from conceding would-be goals and the work of Hayden Crozier had him best on ground by half time - he was intercepting and spoiling everything in sight.
In weeks gone by, I’ve often found myself frustrated with how the Bulldogs would dominate play, only for them not to capitalize on the opportunity and watch the opposition run up the other end with relative ease and then slot one against the run of play. Well, it was very nice to see us on the other side of one for a change, with Patrick Lipinski hitting one home from forty metres with about a minute to go to give the Bulldogs a slight lead at half-time.
After Alex Sexton kicked his third goal in the opening minute of third term, the Bulldogs started to wrestle momentum back in their favour. Fortune favoured Mitch Wallis when he stayed down at ground level, when two Suns went up and spoiled each other in the marking contest. The footy landing in the lap of Wallis and put through the first of two goals for the term. Then, Jason Johannisen became the latest beneficiary of this weird rule where if you have your jumper pulled after you handball it off, it’s a free kick and a 50 metre penalty. That takes him inside 50, where he duly converted, giving the Bulldogs a small buffer.
True to the nature of the game though, the margin was pulled back to within a kick as poor defensive checking allows Brandon Ellis to mark 40 metres out the other end and then slot a goal for himself. Three quarter time I knew we were going to be in for one of those close finishes. I felt my heart rate thumping as I went to grab some dinner.
Two goals in the opening five minutes of the final term was a good omen. Ed Richards with a clever soccer goal, followed by Lachie Young’s first career goal gave the Dogs a two-goal opening - probably the first time in the evening the margin exceeded 10 points, which exemplified how close both teams were. It wouldn’t be very long before the Suns started making one last push - and they did. With the rain pouring, both sides fought and scrapped, leaving everything out there to get their team over the line.
Ben Ainsworth snapped one to make it back to seven points. However it would be Izak Rankine that would miss several opportunities in the last quarter - he actually kicked four behinds after kicking their only goal in the second quarter - a nice drop punt from a tight angle. But he missed a fair few gettable ones. There was one late in the piece where he took a nice grab in the pocket and then tried to snap it through, but the kicked strayed to the left of the post.
Since the game finished, I’ve seen people comment about him being overrated. Sure, his kicking is part reason it cost the Suns the four points, but he got into really good spots all game. Just a bit unlucky with those shots. I get the media’s infatuation with him. He’s a bloody good player after all, and I’m not going to deny it. But everyone is already quick to leave out he’s only in his third game, just relax and let the kid's football speak for himself.
There were plenty of moments where I had my heart in my mouth in the dying minutes. Laitham Vandermeer in a contest on the wing where he found himself against three Gold Coast players and could’ve easily given away a free kick when he dived on the footy, but wow he did very well to hold it up and wait for his team mates to come and help. He turns it over there, the Suns have another chance to win it.
Finally, Billy Gowers in the last thirty seconds. To be honest, I’ve never been a critic of his aggressiveness to the contest, I think it’s one of his biggest strengths, as he showed a bit tonight when he provided contests. But his god-awful kick inside 50, which resulted in a turnover, should be exhibit A of why he shouldn’t get another game on this list. The man just is devoid of any skill with the football in hand and it almost cost us another win on Thursday night.
Thank god for Marcus Bontempelli marking in the defensive 50. And just thank heavens for the Bulldogs’ defence in general. They were tested so often on Thursday night and they stood up all night long to a Gold Coast team that will have lost no admirers after this game - they certainly didn’t lose one in me. I’ve enjoyed watching them take a massive rise in development this year and they showed exactly what they are capable of.
Top eight might be a stretch for the Gold Coast, but they’ll definitely be closer to Finals than the wooden spoon this year, which is something they’ll be extremely encouraged by.
The midfield trio of Touk Miller, Hugh Greenwood and David Swallow were all enormous, combining for 23 tackles, 19 clearances and 69 disposals. Greenwood I have touched on in the last article being an underrated figure. Miller’s work in the middle has been ultra consistent through the Suns’ horror years and often goes another level in a tight game there is a reason Swallow is co-captain - he leads by example and often does what he needs to do.
Speaking of co-captains, their other co-captain Jarrod Witts proved to be too good in the ruck against Tim English. Witts’ body is far superior to that of English and given the wet conditions, English was going to struggle around the ground. The count was 46-14 in favour of Witts, which shows what sort of development English has to go in terms of competing in the ruck against the best, and yes, I hold Witts in a high regard in terms of ruckmen.
Jack Bowes and Lachie Weller were both very impressive on a wing in the absence of Lachie Hunter (All the best with your personal battles) Sam Collins was almost a one-man defensive unit, with Charlie Ballard and Jarrod Harbrow both providing ample assistance in the defensive 50, whilst Brandon Ellis also put in a very nice game floating between half-back and half-forward.
I’ll dedicate another paragraph to the Bulldogs defence, because they well and truly deserve the plaudits. Hayden Crozier had 10 disposals to quarter time, but still finished with 19 disposals, seven marks and 11 intercepts. Maybe his impact did slightly taper off in the second half, but still he was defensively outstanding for the most part of the game, and along with Alex Keath, take best on ground honours. Keath had himself nine intercepts, but also matched up on Ben King for all game. King looked prominent early, didn’t do much after quarter time, and Keath wore him like a glove.
Easton Wood deserves a mention. He bounced back from what was a pretty sub-par fortnight of footy with a very good game of his own. He read a lot of forward entries better than most of the Suns forwards. Bailey Williams continues to string together great performances in the defensive half - another 22 disposals and six rebound 50s, whilst Caleb Daniel was perhaps the one Bulldog who handled the wet footy the best. 25 disposals, eight rebound 50s at 84 percent efficiency and six intercepts. Also I liked Jason Johannisen throughout the night, I didn’t think playing in the rain would suit his style, but he still did plenty of good things across half-back.
The defence probably couldn’t have had the influence they did without some help from the mids. I noticed Jack Macrae down back a lot to help them get an avenue out of defensive 50. It was another Jack Macrae-like game: 29 disposals, seven clearances, six tackles, six inside 50s, five intercepts and three rebound 50s. Also, big love for Bailey Smith put in another hard-working shift (22 disposals, five clearances and six score involvements), and whilst I wouldn’t trust Marcus Bontempelli to kick a set shot to save my life, he put in another strong game (20 disposals, five marks, four tackles and four inside 50s), his contested marking in particular was quite noticeable and worthy of the applause.
Finally, well done to Cal Porter for getting his debut on Thursday night. I’ve always loved watching this guy attack the contest and whilst he didn’t get himself plenty of the footy, he did some good things in the contest. You can easily argue he got stiffed a couple of times by the umpire, but his endeavour in what was a dire game was a big positive.
Well, the Dogs now have six days to rest up before a run of games - four in 20 if I’m correct. It starts on Wednesday against the Tigers, and then big clashes with both Port Adelaide and Brisbane, before rounding it up with a game against the bottom-of-the table Adelaide.
It’s a big couple of weeks of footy ahead, and I can’t wait.
Western Bulldogs 2.3 3.6 5.8 7.9.51
Gold Coast Suns 2.1 3.4 5.6 6.10.46
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Smith, Liberatore, Johannisen, Lipinski, Wallis, Richards, Young Gold Coast: Sexton 3, Ainsworth, Rankine, Ellis
Alex Docherty's Best
Western Bulldogs: Daniel, Crozier, Macrae, Keath, Smith, Williams Gold Coast: Miller, Collins, Swallow, Greenwood, Witts, Sexton
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