5 Things We Learned - Marsh Community Series Match One

The Western Bulldogs started the new decade on the right foot last week, with a comfortable 44-point win over North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium last Friday. Despite the accuracy of North in front of goal (9.3.57), the Bulldogs were never really troubled, extending their lead at every break to pull away. Admittedly, it’s still only pre-season at this stage, but winning form is good form, regardless of what month it is, and there was plenty to take away from our first hitout for the season, so let’s assess the key talking points:

1. Let’s Talk About The Bont

Every so often, a club is treated to a once-in-a-generation icon that almost transcends the club that they play for, but certainly becomes synonymous with the decade that they dominated in. For Bulldogs fans young and old, when they reflect on the decades 50s, 80s, and 90s, the names Charlie Sutton, Doug Hawkins, and Chris Grant would, respectively, come to mind almost immediately. With the luxury of time, we could very well look back on the decade of the 2020s and have the name Marcus Bontempelli provide us with a similar sense of nostalgia.

Bontempelli has long been spoken about as a player with the potential to find himself in the rarefied air as some of the aforementioned club greats by the time his career comes to a close, and with a Premiership, three best-and-fairest awards, two All-Australian honours, and the AFL Coaches Award last year, he’s off to a good start. The recently-acquired role of club captain further adds to the legend that he appears almost destined to become, and with 127 games already under his belt for a man that has only very recently just turned 24 years of age, if creating a club legend were like putting a puzzle together, we would have all of the pieces, and most of them are already in place.

Will this man be the greatest Bulldog of all by the end of his career? Source:

Getty Images

But his performance last Friday was something altogether different: 37 disposals (17 contested), 13 score involvements, 11 inside 50s, 10 clearances, eight tackles, and two goals, and for the SuperCoach buffs out there, a mammoth score of 195. It almost had to be seen to be believed to think that a player could put together such an awesome performance with such minimal effort; he barely looked like he had even got out of second gear for much of the night.

We were warned about this earlier this month, however, when Sam Lloyd suggested that Bontempelli may be ready to put together a season like nothing we’ve ever seen:

He’s flying this pre-season… he’s come back super fit,” Lloyd told RSN Breakfast Club on the 7th of February.

“It’s a bit embarrassing for a couple of the boys when we do match simulation, because he’s starting to take the piss a little bit.”

2. Bruce, Schache, and…. Young?

When news broke through in the hours leading up to the game that Aaron Naughton would not partake due to an issue with his right knee (not the one he injured in “that” game last year), Bulldogs fans were left concerned. Not only was their marketable young centre-half forward back on the operating table, but it would leave a sizeable hole in the forward line. Josh Bruce had already been left out due to some back spasms, meaning that Josh Schache would be forced to lead the line, leaving the Bulldogs massively undersized going forward.

Enter: Lewis Young. The athletic but lightly-built utility had made a name for himself as an interceptor down back across his AFL career, despite being drafted as a forward and showing some positive signs in that role at VFL level as well. But on Friday he was given the opportunity to try his hand as a forward, and he certainly didn’t disappoint. He kicked the Bulldogs first two goals of the match, missed a very gettable opportunity later in the term, eventually scored his third in the second term, before playing on after incorrectly assuming that the umpire wouldn’t pay a mark he had taken at the top of the goal square. On another night, 3.1 could have very easily become 5.0.

At VFL level, Lewis Young has shown himself to be rather adept in the forward half. Source: Getty Images

We’re not suggesting with any real seriousness that one pre-season performance should be enough to convince us that Young plays forward and Naughton goes down back upon his return, but it does provide plenty of food for thought, given that Young not only has experience as a forward, but also has many desirable traits to succeed as a key forward. Granted, you would expect that the pack will always be shuffled to accommodate for Naughton to play as a centre-half forward, but coach Luke Beveridge, ever a fan of switching the magnets about, won’t forget Young’s exploits last week, and there’s no doubt we’ll see him pull the trigger with it yet.

3. Ed Sees Red

It wasn’t quite the start to the season that Ed Richards was expecting or hoping for. He started out solidly enough, with six disposals just over halfway through the second term, before being ironed out by Marley Williams in the attacking goal square. A free kick was awarded to Richards, but he was instead busying himself with getting off the ground as opposed to taking the shot on goal. He was subsequently withdrawn from the match with concussion and taken to hospital, although the Bulldogs medical team stressed that it was precautionary. The hit was severe enough to see Williams be slapped with a two-match suspension, and the Bulldogs have yet to put a date on Richards’ return.

It wasn't a great night for Ed Richards. Source: Getty Images

It’s the latest in a fairly lengthy list of injuries for the Bulldogs this year, with Richards joining the previously mentioned Aaron Naughton, whose successful surgery sees him still in the frame for a Round 1 berth. Tim English also missed the North Melbourne match with a concussion sustained at training, but should be available for the second Marsh Community Series match against Port Adelaide next month. Easton Wood’s hamstring is also only minor, and may even return for that game as well, alongside Josh Bruce and Matthew Suckling. Tom Liberatore, Taylor Duryea and Lin Jong appear to be not quite so lucky, with the trio set to miss at least the first few matches of the home-and-away season.

4. Keath Settles Nicely

Considering that only four months ago, Alex Keath was sitting on the operating table, having his current employers operate on a stress fracture in his lower leg to appease his future employers, it was a commendable effort for him to be able to front up for the first pre-season match of the series. It was a complicated game of cat-and-mouse at the time as the Bulldogs and the Crows did battle in the negotiation stakes, with the deal taking until the final half an hour to be finalised.

For Keath, though, the Bulldogs coaches, fans and medical department would have just been happy for him to get through the game, which he did. 16 disposals and nine marks wasn’t a terrible return, either, and the Bulldogs will be looking to help Keath build on that during the season. He won’t be the lockdown defender that many believe the Bulldogs require, but he will add himself to a burgeoning list of quality intercepting defenders, including Easton Wood, Hayden Crozier, and Lewis Young (if he plays down back).

5. Finding The Sweet Spot

If Tim English is the brains of the ruck operation, then Jordon Sweet surely is the brawn. Standing at 203cm and 106kg, Sweet is a behemoth of a 22-year-old, and isn’t afraid to through his weight around, either. Last year, English faced extensive criticism for his inability to stand up against some of the more imposing rucks in the game, but you wouldn’t expect Sweet to succumb to similar complaints if he was given an extended run in the side. Admittedly, the more experienced Goldstein won the hitout count 47-25 against Sweet, but given that the same man won the same count 57-7 against English last year, it gives you an indication of just how more physically advanced Sweet is over English.

The Bulldogs have a fine backup ruckman in Jordon Sweet. Source: Getty Images

Granted, no one is suggesting that Sweet would be selected over English should the two of them be fit; English is as good as a lock in this current climate, given what he has contributed in 2019, the resources that the Bulldogs have invested into him, and, perhaps most importantly, that he has many of the preferred traits in a ruckman that a Luke Beveridge-coached side needs a ruckman to have – traits that Sweet is yet to attain. At the very least, however, Sweet demonstrated that the Bulldogs have a solid backup ruckman, and that all will not be lost should English go down long term. There is depth in the ruck division.