Western Bulldogs' bite too tough for Richmond Rohan Connolly
The Age
April 11, 2015 - 6:39PM WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.5 5.8 10.13 12.13 (85)
RICHMOND 2.3 3.6 6.8 9.12 (66)
Goals:
Western Bulldogs: T Dickson 4, J Stringer 2, S Crameri 2, E Wood, J Grant, M Honeychurch, M Wallis.
Richmond: J Riewoldt 2, B Griffiths, C Newman, D Grimes, D Martin, N Gordon, R Petterd, S Lloyd.
Best:
Western Bulldogs: M Bontempelli, M Wallis, J Macrae, T Dickson, M Talia, M Boyd, B Murphy.
Richmond: A Rance, D Martin, T Cotchin, A Miles, J Batchelor, B Ellis.
Umpires: Shane McInerney, Jordan Bannister, Andrew Stephens.
Official Crowd: 49,945 at MCG.
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It is already clear that Luke Beveridge intends having his Western Bulldogs play a quicker, more attacking game than they had previously. But that doesn't mean the less glamorous aspects of the game are going to be overlooked, either.
The Dogs had already shown under Brendan McCartney that they could hold their own in a contested situation. And in Saturday's 19-point win over Richmond, there was a notable streak of mental toughness, too.
The Bulldogs led this game from start to finish. But it didn't mean there weren't several occasions on which their opposition threatened. And each time Beveridge's side responded in the perfect manner, nipping any potential comeback by the Tigers in the bud.
It happened midway through the third term, when the Doggies had built a 27-point lead, only for Richmond key forwards Ben Griffiths then Jack Riewoldt to escape the shackles applied by Jordan Roughead and Michael Talia long enough to kick two quick goals.
The strangely silent Tiger hordes began to find their voice. But within five minutes, the Bulldogs led by even more than previously, thanks to goals to Jake Stringer and Jarrad Grant.
Again in the final term, Richmond threatened with early goals to Chris Newman and Riewoldt, the gap again back to just 16 points. And again, the Bulldogs managed to steady things long enough not to let a trickle become a flood, Tory Dickson's fourth goal of the game and one to Easton Wood effectively settling the result a good 10 minutes before the end.
They'd deserved the points well before that in a very even effort across the board. Not that there weren't standouts.
Like – and we'll be saying this often enough over the next decade or so – the sublime Marcus Bontempelli, who began slowly but sure made up for lost time with a game in equal parts prolific, strong and creative – 27 touches, 10 tackles and three score assists making that pretty obvious.
Mitch Wallis and Jack Macrae weren't as spectacular as "The Bont", but not a lot less effective around the ball, and in defence, Talia particularly was a standout, the influence of Riewoldt and Griffiths, despite that third-quarter cameo, negligible.
Their efforts were able to fill the breach left by the underperforming Bulldogs tall forwards, Dickson and the likes of Stewart Crameri and Stringer able to bob up where the key-position likes of Tom Boyd and Ayce Cordy couldn't.
Richmond had two standout performers in Alex Rance, who not only pulled the shutters down on Boyd, but became one of his side's most prolific possession winners besides, and the always-creative Dustin Martin.
But Martin's brilliance by foot only served to highlight how many of his teammates were butchering the ball. Martin must have been tearing his hair out after setting up first Ben Griffiths then Ricky Petterd with superb passes early in the game, only for both to spray their shots.
The Bulldogs' issue was more their key forwards not getting a sniff. Boyd took his first mark of the match a couple of minutes before half-time and in the defensive 50. He and Cordy had the grand total of four disposals and that same mark between them at the long break.
Their opponents, meanwhile, were doing all sorts of damage. If any key defender has a better first half this year than Rance did in this game, it will be worth watching.
Not content with denying Boyd a sniff, Rance became a constant source of rebound, going to the half-time break with 15 disposals and six marks. You wondered by half-time whether Boyd might be reduced to a quasi tagging role.
It was the Dogs' smaller forwards and midfielders who had to put the runs on the board. Honeychurch, very busy early, kicked things off, and Tory Dickson and Mitch Wallis gave their side a minor edge by quarter-time.
That became 14 points after Jake Batchelor, trying to switch play, kicked across ground to two teammates, only to see Matthew Boyd sweep in between them and set up Crameri for the easiest of goals.
Petterd got the Tigers back in it, before Stringer strolled into another open goal just before the siren. The margin could have been even greater, too, Macrae missing a very gettable shot from the restart from only 40 metres.
It would have been in keeping with the Dogs of old that missed opportunities like that left open the gate just wide enough for their opponent to charge through.
But a strangely flat Richmond seemed not to have enough strength nor, to be frank, the will to do so this time. And they were up against a team which just two rounds into the new football year, already appears to be made of much sterner stuff.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-match-report/western-bulldogs-bite-too-tough-for-richmond-20150411-1mj0rc.html
