WESTERN BULLDOGS 6.3 9.7 14.11 18.15 (123) ADELAIDE 2.3 6.5 12.5 17.6 (108)
Goals: Western Bulldogs: J Stringer 4, J Redpath 3, T Dickson 3, B Dale 2, C Daniel 2, M Bontempelli 2, M Wallis, T Liberatore. Adelaide: J Jenkins 8, T Lynch 3, C Cameron 2, R Atkins, R Sloane, S Jacobs, T Walker.
BEST: Western Bulldogs: Wallis, Liberatore, Wood, Bontempelli, Stringer, Dalhaus, Campbell. Adelaide Crows: Jenkins, Lynch, M Crouch, Seedsman, Atkins, Jacobs.
Umpires: Chris Donlon, Troy Pannell, Jordan Bannister.
Official Crowd: 26,984 at Etihad Stadium.
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Bulldogs hold off Crows
Western Bulldogs stave off Adelaide’s last-quarter fightback to win a pulsating match by 15 points.
It was too much to expect the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide to reprise their scintillating 2015 elimination final – but they just about did. For the Bulldogs, there was the qualified satisfaction of overturning the result of that night, but oh so narrowly. Don't be fooled by the scoreboard; the Dogs kicked two goals in the last minute of the match to make it look so. For the Crows, nothing about the night suggested anything other than that they will be a force this season. Not least there was Josh Jenkins' eight goals, remembering he is only one of three monoliths on their forward line.
Both coaches said they were proud, the Bulldogs' Luke Beveridge because his team had stood up to, and prevailed over, a worthy opponent, the Crows' Don Pyke because despite a thrashing in all of footy's vital statistics, his team almost had spirited away the points. The two most telling figures were 37-68 for inside 50s and a mystifying 11-28 for free kicks. "The game was played in their half, but I was really proud of the way our guys kept coming," Pyke said.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan held their previous encounter up to a meeting of coaches as the way he would like to see the game played. Talk about a mozz. It took three scrambly ball-ups to get this match started. In the early exchanges, you would have seen a dropped chest mark, a Scott Thompson fumble and then an errant handball from the usually metronomic midfielder, a comi-tragic moment when Tom Lynch and Rory Sloane spoiled one another, several missed shots at goal and generally a level of sloppiness that belied the footy both teams have played this season. The big stage will do that.
But as the game settled, the ruling dynamic was the Bulldogs' pressure. It was personified by Tom Liberatore, who made two desperate lunges at Sloane, and got him the second time. Out of this earthiness, like mushrooms after a rain shower, emerged flashes of Jake Stringer magic. The Bulldogs dominated the game and kicked six goals in a row to lead by that many, and that became the handicap around which both teams had to work for the rest of the match. The Crows narrowed it to two points just before half-time, and three points in the final minute of the match, but could never quite bridge it.
The Crows looked most dangerous when Taylor Walker got his hands on the ball, for something always ensued. But it stuck less than half the time, and otherwise the Crows lacked avenues. They were trounced in clearances, which Pyke said he liked to think was an forgiveable exception to their usual rule. "We just didn't create enough opportunity for our forwards," he said. Eddie Betts, who kicked three in the first quarter of the last clash, did not have a kick before half-time. For the first time, they acutely missed Paddy Dangerfield. But the Crows did not need much straw to spin into gold. Jenkins was the case in point; he had nine kicks for his eight straight goals. Pyke was pleased to think that another day, it might be Walker, or Betts, or even Lynch. Meantime, the Crows at least were efficient this night.
After the Dogs made their early break, the game became an exchange of runs of goals, four this way, three that, then three the other way again. The Dogs continued to have the preponderance of play. They impressed with their pressure, but also their daring, frequently turning back into the corridor, where angels fear to tread. If anything, said Beveridge, they were too bold, but he won't ask for any restraint henceforth. The Crows had fewer opportunities, but because of the potency of their forward line didn't need many. From those measly 37 entries, they kicked 108 points, only one of them from Betts. But lumbering ruckman Sam Jacobs kicked a goal that would have done Betts proud.
As the game rose towards its denouement, the Crows grew in stature, metaphorically and seemingly physically. Given the desperation and fierceness with which the Dogs had opened up this match, they now needed to stop it being snatched away from them. When a Bailey Dale miss at one end transformed itself within seconds into Jenkins' eighth goal at the other, it seemed the Crows must prevail. "It wasn't a sinking feeling, but maybe there was a hint of deja vu," said Beveridge, remembering last year. But hot pursuit and cool heads generated a goal for Marcus Bontempelli — whereupon Beveridge said his heart rate fell by 30 beats — and another for Dale after the siren, and at last the Dogs could breathe easy.