AFL season 2016: Jason Johannisen and Tom Boyd injured as Dogs down Blues

WESTERN BULLDOGS 5.1 9.4 12.6 13.7 (85) CARLTON 2.1 2.3 5.5 7.7 (49)
Goals: Western Bulldogs: M Bontempelli 3, K Stevens 2, J Adcock, J Johannissen, L Hunter, L Jong, M Suckling, M Wallis, T Liberatore, T McLean. Carlton: L Sumner 2, A Phillips, B Gibbs, D Buckley, J Lamb, P Cripps.
Best: Western Bulldogs: L Hunter, S Biggs, L Dahlhaus, M Suckling, M Bontempelli, T Liberatore, J Johannisen. Carlton: K Simpson, L Plowman, S Docherty, J Weitering, M Wright, P Cripps.
Injuries: Western Bulldogs: J Johannissen (hamstring), M Suckling (ankle), T Boyd (shoulder). Carlton: M Murphy (illness, head gash).
Reports: Western Bulldogs: L Jong by field umpire M Nicholls in first quarter for high contact on P Cripps.
Umpires: Ben Ryan, Chris Kamolins, Mathew Nicholls.
Crowd: 27,622 at Etihad Stadium.

The much-vaunted depth of the Western Bulldogs is likely to be tested further after injury scares for speedster Jason Johannisen and key forward Tom Boyd marred their win over Carlton on Saturday night.

Painful: Jason Johannisen of the Bulldogs kicks, only to end up injuring his hamstring. Photo: Getty Images

Only a week after losing captain Robert Murphy to a season-ending knee injury, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge was dealt another blow, as an anguished Johannisen limped off the Etihad Stadium turf in the arms of trainers, having pulled up suddenly after kicking a running goal early in the third quarter.  Johannisen, one of the competition's form players during the early rounds, sat out the game on the bench, with ice applied to the back of his right hamstring.

Things appeared to get worse moments later when Matt Suckling went down the race with a left ankle complaint. He returned, a relief given the injuries to fellow defenders Murphy, Johannisen and Easton Wood, who is due to return shortly from his own hamstring ailment.

Boyd received attention to his right shoulder after leaving the field midway through the final quarter in distress. 

Gotcha: Ciaran Byrne of the Blues is tackled by Jed Adcock (left) and Jake Stringer of the Bulldogs. Photo: Getty Images

There was an injury worry for the Blues too, with captain Marc Murphy leaving the ground bloodied and dazed after copping a stray knee to his head in the third term.

The second-half drama, which even featured a brief melee, enlivened a match which had been all but sewn up by the long change, at which stage the Bulldogs led by 43 points. Perhaps flattened by their injury troubles, the Dogs allowed the Blues to make much of the play in the second half, before winning by 36.

On paper this had loomed as a mismatch. Carlton, wooden spooners last year, were winless, while the Bulldogs were arguably a marking contest from being 3-0. The early stages went to script. Jed Adcock, the man charged with replacing the Dogs' irreplaceable skipper Murphy, began his second life in ideal fashion. The former Brisbane Lions captain was involved in the chain of handballs that led to Koby Stevens kicking the opening goal, but it would soon get better for the veteran/rookie. Minutes later he snapped truly from 40 metres. He raised his arms in jubilant fashion, and was swamped by his new teammates. While it wasn't enough to make Bulldogs fans utter the phrase "Bob who?", it was uplifting nonetheless.

The Blues steadily worked their way into the quarter. Majors from Dylan Buckley and Jed Lamb sandwiched a long-range Marcus Bontempelli goal. But Suckling bombed accurately from 60 metres, before Toby McLean capitalised on a free kick, and the Dogs had built a three-goal advantage at the opening change. Chief among the Blues' concerns at this point was the form of their captain. While the match was always going to be missing one skipper named Murphy, that tally was all but doubled by Marc's meagre total of three first-quarter disposals. 

With Lachie Hunter, Shane Biggs, Tom Liberatore and Luke Dahlhaus on song, it was the type of drop-off that Brendon Bolton's side could ill-afford, even if former Greater Western Sydney backman Lachie Plowman was holding Jake Stringer brilliantly on his Blues debut.

The second quarter began in typical fashion: Levi Casboult took a strong grab inside 50, and then failed to register a score from the ensuing set shot. Carlton continued to have their chances, but Sam Docherty also sprayed one, as did Bryce Gibbs, who like his captain had been largely absent to that point.

The Dogs continued to make them pay. Mitch Wallis kicked the first goal of the term, but it was the next which summed up the first half. Dahlhaus intercepted a Patrick Cripps chip in midfield, causing a passage of play which ended with Bontempelli bounding into an open goal. Cripps was duly summoned to the bench and onto the phone.

The writing was on the wall. Liberatore wheeled around to snap another, before Bontempelli slotted his third. It was turning into a rout, and stand-in captain Dale Morris almost added his name to the list of goalkickers, denied a fourth career major only by the goalpost. It mattered little though with the lopsided half-time scoreboard matched by the free kick count, which at that stage favoured the Dogs 17-4, and ended 30-13 in their favour.