WESTERN BULLDOGSÂ 2.6 Â 7.7 Â 12.11Â Â 16.14Â (110) Â Â
SYDNEYÂ 4.1 Â Â Â 6.5 Â Â Â 9.7 Â Â Â 13.9Â (87)Â
GOALS: Bulldogs  Stringer 3, Cloke 3, Picken 2, Bontempelli 2, T Boyd 2, Hunter, Jong, Suckling, Murphy. Sydney Reid 6, Franklin 4, Laidler, Newman, Florent.Â
BEST: Bulldogs Bontempelli, Jong, Wood, Murphy, Stringer, Macrae, Cloke, Stringer. Sydney Reid, Franklin, Hewitt, Lloyd, Kennedy, Jones.
INJURIES: Sydney Foote replaced by Aliir in selected team. Tippett (leg).
REPORT: Sydney Jones for alleged rough conduct on Cloke (Western Bulldogs) in the first quarter.
UMPIRES: Ryan, Mollison, Hosking.Â
CROWD: 42,834 at Etihad Stadium. Â
More AFL Real Footy Videos
- Video duration
- 01:31
Dogs bark loudest in replay classic
Dogs bark loudest in replay classic
The Bulldogs toppled Sydney in the grand final replay that lived up to all expectations.
Up Next
One man, four mascots
- Video duration
- 01:47
- Video duration
- 01:47
One man, four mascots
One man, four mascots
Simon Lumbus switches is the mascot for the West Coast Eagles, Fremantle Dockers, Perth Wildcats and Perth Glory.
Up Next
FootyFix: Can the Eagles beat Western Bulldogs?
- Video duration
- 06:11
- Video duration
- 06:11
FootyFix: Can the Eagles beat Western ...
FootyFix: Can the Eagles beat Western Bulldogs?
Rohan Connolly previews all the footy action ahead of round 8 in the AFL.
Up Next
Hardwick: Blakely can try to tag Martin
- Video duration
- 00:21
- Video duration
- 00:21
Hardwick: Blakely can try to tag Martin
Hardwick: Blakely can try to tag Martin
While Tigers coach Damien Hardwick believes Fremantle coach Ross Lyon will attempt to send Connor Blakely to Dustin Martin at some point, it's a card he can choose to play when ready.
- Video duration
- 00:16
Eddie Betts' son shows off his talent
Eddie Betts' son shows off his talent
It looks like Adelaide forward Eddie Betts has passed down his goalkicking skills to his son.
Up Next
It's 'every man for themselves' at Swans
- Video duration
- 01:47
- Video duration
- 01:47
It's 'every man for themselves' at Swans
It's 'every man for themselves' at Swans
The Footy Classified panel says the team's failure to protect Callum Mills as he was bullied by the Blues is symptomatic of Sydney's miserable losing streak. Courtesy Nine Network.
Up Next
AFL and eSports: The unlikely match
- Video duration
- 02:33
- Video duration
- 02:33
AFL and eSports: The unlikely match
AFL and eSports: The unlikely match
What is eSports and why is the AFL interested?
Up Next
Nat Fyfe off to Saint Kilda?
- Video duration
- 00:47
- Video duration
- 00:47
Nat Fyfe off to Saint Kilda?
Nat Fyfe off to Saint Kilda?
96FM presenter Brad Fitzgerald says there is a deal for Fremantle's Nat Fyfe to move to Saint Kilda.
Dogs bark loudest in replay classic
The Bulldogs toppled Sydney in the grand final replay that lived up to all expectations.
The Western Bulldogs triumphed over Sydney. Again. This time it was not an upset, though it did leave the Swans upset. It was both a Bulldogs comeback and a welcome back. Â
This was a game befitting a grand final, if not also a rematch. It was a game that allowed no rollicking forward. It was a grind, it was tough, it was punctuated by moments of brilliance and one moment of aggressive umpiring intervention.
It was a game that rewarded the occasion and did not deserve to be distilled to a controversy over an umpiring intrusion. The narrative had read: early Swans lead; Bulldogs comeback to lead; Buddy Franklin brilliance to recover the lead;  second dogs rally; late free kick for a goal; Swans stopped.Â
For all of the brilliant play - Reid's six goals, Bontempelli's mature shouldering of his team, Franklin's goal from 65 metres out - the conversation turned on the umpiring decision.
Here's the situation. The lead had changed a few times but the Dogs were in front by three points late in the last quarter. The ball went tumbling loose to the Bulldogs goal square with Callum Mills leading Liam Picken to the ball. He was inside the goal square and running to goal with Picken over his shoulder - albeit waving his arms to indicate to the umpire if not to Mills that he was not going to tackle. Mills hit the ball through for a rushed behind. The umpire paid a free kick for deliberately rushing a behind. They judged that he was either too far out from goal - he wasn't - or not under pressure - which was hard their judgment call. It looked wrong.
The Dogs kicked the goal and the Swans' momentum was stopped. It was the harshest interpretation of the latest rule change and came in the hottest game of the year. Â
The Bulldogs had earlier reverently unfurled their brand new flag before the game as a reminder, that was not required, of what joyously occurred last year. The emotion and disbelief has not dissipated in the six months since.
The flag or perhaps the opponent aroused more memories of how they constructed their game than last week's match provided. Last week they were workmanlike, this week they were more assertive but it took time to arrive. It's a difficult thing to isolate in any piece of play or even player but there is a shift in mentality in the Bulldogs from about early August last year to how they are now.
They play now with a measured self-assurance that they would eventually get the ball out of the thicket of legs and arms in the packs - and into space and fast moving arms and legs - and the game would open up. When it did, they would open Sydney up. And so it proved, for periods at least.Â
Sydney stole the early march when the ball was at its hottest and space could not be found.
In the first 15 minutes Reid had kicked three goals, his side had kicked four. The Swans had enjoyed every one of the nine clearances and they had taken the ball near their goal twice as many times as the Bulldogs – 10 to five. They had lost Kurt Tippett to an ankle injury which for a period did not trouble them but as the game wore and Sam Reid had to be used in the ruck it proved damaging.Â
The Bulldogs, when they did take it forward, had found Travis Cloke who missed twice, still unable to unburden himself of the Collingwood affliction.
Then the game changed. Zak Jones arrived late to meet Cloke in a marking contest and jumped into the bigger man. It was late and he did nothing to spoil the ball. It was crude and drew a free kick and 50-metre penalty. It also brought Cloke into uncertain territory – 20 metres out, directly in front. This time Cloke, a gentle man who was riled by the hit, drilled the ball through the back wall of the stands and goaled. Later he wrestled with Allir Allir and drew a free (another that perplexed the Swans). That kick, too, was true. Â
Cloke was playing as the Dogs could have dreamed he might. he was a presence again and a target. He was mobile and he was marking the ball. He faded but only because others also grew. Others like Jake Stringer who rediscovered something of his knack of kicking the goal when it mattered  - late in the second to give the Dogs a lead; late in the third to push the lead and the last nof the night to make sure of their final margin.Â
The Dogs pushed the margin to 28-points and what should have been enough to secure the match but Sydney, even one without so many grand final players, are not a team to permit two weeks of bullying.
Lance Franklin, offering a reminder of what he might have been like last year had he been fully fit, turned this game back on itself when he booted three goals either side of three-quarter-time. The Swans then took the lead when Sam Reid kicked his sixth goal. They were surging and appeared likely to continue their march. A Bontempelli goal gave the Dogs the lead back late but only points separated. Then came the Mills-PIcken rushed behind decision and Stringer's final goal.Â
Sydney played the game cussing itself with every Reid goal at what might have been last year had, in that final match committee meeting, Â taken the gamble they were considering and picked the player who had missed all of the year with injury. Then, as they gnashed their teeth, they would look up and see Bob Murphy noiselessly rippling through packs like a gymnast's ribbon and reluctantly acknowledge that the Dogs, too, had those they would liked to have had there last October 1.