WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.6 9.8 13.12 17.18 (120) BRISBANE LIONS 2.1 4.4 7.5 10.7 (67)
Goals: Western Bulldogs: J Stringer 3, L Dahlhaus 2, M Bontempelli 2, T Dickson 2, T Liberatore 2, T McLean 2, J Roughead, L Jong, M Wallis, T Campbell. Brisbane Lions: D Zorko 2, R Lester 2, D Rich, J Schache, J Walker, P Hanley, R Bewick, T Rockliff.
Best: Western Bulldogs: Stevens, Wallis, Boyd, Dahlhaus, Morris, Hunter. Brisbane: Robinson, Zorko, Hanley, Martin, Gardiner.
Injuries: Western Bulldogs: M Suckling (knee, ankle). Brisbane Lions: A Christensen (concussion), T Cutler (elbow).
Umpires: Troy Pannell, Leigh Fisher, Nick Brown.
Official Crowd: 25,097 at Etihad Stadium.
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Dogs stay in top four with big win
Western Bulldogs consolidate their spot in the top four with a clinical 53-point win over Brisbane.
Brisbane scrapped pretty hard for much of the first half against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
That shortly before the long break the Lions still trailed by more than 40 points says much about the difference between a team whose lapses can undo plenty of decent work, and one good enough to get the job done comfortably even when not at full tilt.
Indeed, into time-on of the opening term, Brisbane led this game by 10 points having scored the only two goals of the game, the script panning out in a fashion anything like what had been expected.
The Lions, determined not to let the Doggies off the chain, flooded numbers back and made life suitably difficult for a while. Then Matthew Suckling limped off for the Dogs with what appeared a serious knee injury, yet another running defender seemingly lost to the cause after the misfortunes of Bob Murphy and Jason Johannisen.
Suckling soon returned for a little while. And even sooner, so did the Bulldogs' fluency. A period of just over three minutes of "red time" were enough to see them slam on three goals to Luke Dahlhaus, Jake Stringer and then, right on the siren, Toby McLean.
The second term was like a replay of sorts. For half the quarter, the Lions battled away gamely, again limiting their opponent's scoreboard damage to just one goal.Â
Again, though, it was the Bulldogs dominating the statistical categories. And soon enough, that was matched in scoreboard terms, too.
This time, it was a burst of four goals in under five minutes, telling blows all. The first couple came from Marcus Bontompelli, so fitting the now-fashionable midfield prototype that when he crept forward he had to be picked up by key backman Daniel Merrett.
Not that even that was enough to stop him. Bontompelli climbed all over the backman for a good grab and duly converted, then won a free after Merrett climbed all over him, and slammed that home, too.
Then Stringer, clearly back on song, burst through a cluster of Lion defenders and snapped over his shoulder from 40 metres, a goal with the greatest degree of difficulty and one that showcased his exceptional mix of strength and skill. Dahlhaus added another, and it was as good as over as a contest.
By now, nothing was going right for the Lions. They'd already lost defender Tom Cutler with a suspected dislocated elbow to make life down back even harder.
Then, right on the stroke of half-time, the AFL's youngest list lost experience it simply couldn't afford, and through "friendly fire", no less, when Allen Christensen collided with the hip of teammate Stefan Martin, the big ruckman last week copping it, this week accidentally dishing it out.
None of Christensen, Cutler, nor Suckling for the Bulldogs, would appear after half-time. So there's an argument that the Lions, one down on the rotations to their opponent, might have done OK to prevent the margin blowing out even further.
There were even consecutive Brisbane goals late in the third term, and then three in a row in the last when, admittedly, the pressure was right off and what remained of proceedings felt like little more than a training drill.
Mitch Robinson and Dayne Zorko kept putting their hands up, Pearce Hanley wasted some scoring opportunities but had a crack, and Martin soldiered on.Â
But good sides might do their damage early then just put the machine in cruise control a bit more this taxing season, and the Bulldogs are clearly a very good side, one that has far bigger things on the horizon than beating up on a hapless opponent, however good for the ego.
Koby Stevens was terrific for the Bulldogs, still a highly underrated addition to the ranks, prolific on the disposal front and involved in most good things that happened for his team. Mitch Wallis and Matthew Boyd did what they do just about every week, Dahlhaus kept the statisticians busy and the scoreboard ticking over, and veteran defender Dale Morris gave a very talented youngster in Josh Schache a pretty thorough working over.
But in the end, the 53-point margin was probably not as bad as it might have been for Brisbane, given an embarrassingly lopsided contested ball count in which they finished 51 in arrears, 119 fewer disposals and just 31 forward entries to the Doggies' 71.
That's pretty tangible evidence of getting the job done for the Bulldogs. And the scary thing for sides as far off the pace as the Lions are still is that their opponent can probably play a lot better.