GREATER WESTERN SYDNEYÂ 3.3 6.3 8.6 11.9
WESTERN BULLDOGS 2.4 6.12 7.17 9.19
GOALS: GWS: Cameron 4, Patton 3, Greene 3, Lobb. Western Bulldogs: Stringer 3, Bontempelli 3, Daniel 2, Suckling.
BEST: GWS: Mumford, Greene, Cameron, Haynes, Patton, Williams, Ward. Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli, Daniel, McRae, McLean, Stringer, Dahlhaus.
INJURIES: GWS: Reid (hamstring), Haynes (groin). Western Bulldogs: Campbell (ankle) replaced in selected team by Dale. Liberatore (concussion)
REPORTS: GWS: Greene for allegedly striking Daniel (Western Bulldogs) in third quarter.
UMPIRES: Ryan, Meredith, Deboy.
CROWD:14,048 at Manuka Oval.
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Giants pip Bulldogs in another thriller
An intense back and forth game between GWS and the Western Bulldogs saw the Giants sneak home by just two points.
External observers might label the Giants' frantic two-point win against the inaccurate Bulldogs on their Friday night debut as revenge for last year's heart-breaking preliminary final defeat.
But inside the four walls of GWS, as footy players and coaches are prone to saying this year, Friday's triumph in front of 14,048 fans down in Canberra was more about 2017.
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It was about keeping the pressure on unbeaten trio Adelaide, Geelong and Richmond. It was proving their contested game could match it with the best in the competition, particularly in the frenzy of a see-sawing fourth quarter. And it was showing the Friday night television viewers just what's building out in the west of Sydney.
Some of these names are starting to get a household ring about them.
Toby Greene – the three-goal hero who knows just as well how to play the role as villain. He did so again here, belting Caleb Daniel high in the third quarter and could miss next Friday's clash with St Kilda.
Jeremy Cameron helped himself to another four goals while Jonathon Patton kicked three, including a monstrous long bomb from hard up against the boundary line that proved to be the matchwinner. They all revelled in their Friday night debuts.
And then tireless ruckman Shane Mumford. Friday night fans know all about him from his days at Sydney, but in case they'd forgotten who he was, he turned in another vintage display.
He dominated the ruck and levelled Tom Liberatore with a crunching tackle early in the fourth term that led to the Bulldogs' ball-winner being helped groggily from the ground.
"He just keeps on finding a way," Giants coach Leon Cameron said of Mumford.
"It was an interesting duel tonight because he had to think his way through the second ruck in [Josh] Dunkley at times, and sometimes they're actually harder to deal with than a second ruck coming in who is 200cm.
"They're a very clever team the Bulldogs. You've got to give credit to them, they just play a really good team defence and they stifled us at times and we couldn't move the ball like we wanted to.
"I thought out best quarter was probably our last, we found a way to keep the ball in our half of the ground which they clearly did to us in the first half.
"You've got to deal with that and it's pleasing to have our first Friday night game and stand up and come out on top when things didn't really work as well as you wanted to over the 120 minutes."
It all came down to that pulsating final quarter, where the Giants desperately held on for the final five minutes after Jake Stringer snapped his third goal to reduce the margin to three points.
Tom Boyd shanked a late shot at goal from 45 metres out on a tight angle while Toby McLean missed a flying shot at goal late that would've handed the Bulldogs victory.
The contentious deliberate out of bounds rule came under the microscope again after a series of decisions that left supporters of both clubs scratching their heads, but it didn't take the gloss off another brilliant clash between these two sides that again left Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge bemoaning a lack of accuracy in front of goal.
"Some of them are really getable, and it's just purely skill, we've got to work on it, our players have got to work on it," Beveridge said.
"Our players who are missing or are not capitalising on their opportunities, we'll hopefully get better over time. There's a sheen of quality that you need, you don't necessarily need brilliance but you do need a sheen of quality in your forward line.
"It's going to be difficult to win these clutch games when you're a bit inefficient, we just missed too many getable ones and then they got their tails up in the third quarter.
"It's always going to be hard to beat them but tonight we had our chances.
"Both teams are evolving. Both camps consider themselves contenders."
The Giants' Friday night debut was an AFL promoter's dream.
It pitted them against the Bulldogs, the 2016 premiers who were responsible for ending GWS' season in last year's preliminary final 216 days ago.
Both sides came into this with 4-1 records, and both had won six of their past seven games in Canberra.
The Bulldogs suffered a huge blow before the opening bounce when Tom Campbell was ruled out with an ankle injury, meaning ex-Giant Boyd was facing a daunting night in the ruck against Mumford.
But things fell Boyd's way, momentarily, when Mumford went into the rooms midway through the first quarter nursing an injured right ankle. He received some treatment and returned before the first break with strapping around the offending area.
Fellow Giant Callan Ward went off with a glute injury before returning, while key defender Aidan Corr was off for even longer after tweaking the top of his left hamstring in the chilly, slippery conditions being thrown up by the nation's capital. Corr also returned.
It was a busy opening term with Rory Lobb, Patton and Greene all majoring for the Giants.
The Bulldogs were slow to start but squared things up as the Giants went down on troops, and grabbed a pair of goals themselves through Matthew Suckling and Caleb Daniel.
Spearhead Cameron threatened to take the game by its scruff in the second term, booting three of his six pointers against the opponent that held him scoreless in last year's preliminary final.
But Marcus Bontempelli kicked two timely majors and Stringer fired up, roving a stoppage and snapping truly from 15 metres before kicking his second a minute later.
VOTES
Shane Mumford (GWS) 8
Toby Greene (GWS) 8
Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs) 8
Jack Macrae (Western Bulldogs) 7
Dylan Shiel (GWS) 7
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