5 Things We Learned - Elimination Final

The Western Bulldogs progress to the second week of the finals after defeating the Essendon Bombers at UTAS Stadium last Sunday by 49 points, 13.7 85 to 4.12 36 in front of 9760 people.

The 49-point victory was the Bulldogs' first finals win in 1794 days since that incredible Grand Final on October 1st, 2016 and it now gives them a much-needed boost of confidence as they progress to the second week of the finals for the second time in coach Luke Beveridge’s tenure.

The Western Bulldogs walk off UTAS Stadium victors in the First Elimination Final against Essendon. Source: AFL Photos.

1) Where The Match Was Won

After half time the Dogs midfield returned to form and were able to dominate and hold sway, winning the clearances 26-17 and returned a 32-21 inside 50 entries.

No doubt the weather played its part but to see us win the contested ball 102-69 after halftime is quite a smashing. Most teams would be lucky to record a +20 contested ball advantage over four quarters, so for us to show that desire and hunger with the prospect of a first-week exit a possibility was very timely and pleasing.

An essential part of the win was also how the Dogs were able to negate the influence of Sam Draper.

There was a clear change in how the Bulldogs utilised Lewis Young and Tim English from round 23 to the Elimination Final. Against Port Adelaide's Scott Lycett, Young featured in 57 of the 85 ruck contests on the night with English taking just the five on the night. Fast forward one week and a change had occurred.

Young once again featured heavily in the ruck, taking 53 of the 104 ruck contests but on this occasion, English's numbers were well and truly up, taking the ruck duties on 46 occasions.

Neither are first rucks by any means but this shared responsibility helped them gradually wear Essendon ruckman Sam Draper down as the match lengthened. This isn't to say that Draper didn't have an influence on the game, but it certainly wasn't to the extremes that he did in a one-out duel with English in round 21.

I mentioned in last week's article that although we were defeated by Port Adelaide there were aspects of our game which seemed to turn in the right direction - namely our centre clearance work and it was reflective against the Bombers last Sunday.

In Round 21, Essendon manufactured 70 points (11.4) from stoppages which included 6.3 39 from its 18 centre clearances while they too beat us at stoppages around the ground (19-29) but it was the polar opposite in the Elimination Final as the Dogs only conceded 16 points (2.4) while the Bombers went scoreless from its seven centre clearances on this occasion. It's a pretty big turnaround.

Defensively we too, were spot on again, conceding just 36 points which was well below our season average being 68 points.

It was a fair turn of fortunes in the Elimination Final for the Dogs and hopefully, the good times can keep on rolling in September.

2) Tom Liberatore Is Built For September

35 disposals, 17 contested possessions (2nd most for the Dogs), 452 metres gained, seven tackles, eight inside 50s, seven clearances (four in the centre), 26 pressure acts (1st for the Dogs), and five marks.

It was a pretty nice stat sheet from Tom Liberatore.

"Libba" bounced back with his fourth-highest contested possession tally this year (17) after recording a season-low two clearances and just the four contested possessions back in round 21, which was his lowest total in normal 20 minute plus time on quarters since round 20 2019 against the Brisbane Lions.

Not having to deal with Essendon tagger Dylan Clarke no doubt helped this time around as he was a major reason the Bombers were able to pull off an upset against us by blanketing "Libba" just a few games ago.

"Libba"s 17 contested possessions was also the third most by a Bulldog in a final, with Callan Ward's 19 in the 2010 Preliminary Final and Jackson Macrae last Sunday who also had 19, the most by any Dog in its finals history.

Many Dogs were rather down in last year's Elimination Final against St Kilda but the Tom Liberatore who appeared last Sunday was more of the one we certainly missed in our 2019 Elimination Final against GWS.

Tom Liberatore was simply brilliant as he picked up a season-high 35 disposals in the First Elimination Final. Source: AFL Photos

3) Finals Redemption For A Few

Consider the names Roarke Smith, Josh Schache, Tim English, Lewis Young, Ryan Gardner, Bailey Dale and Mitch Hannan. The similarity for all of them is that coming into this season they were players who were most likely going to be in the bottom six players of our best 22

In the Second Elimination Final of the 2019 AFL Finals, Josh Schache and Bailey Dale weren't able to make any impact of note as the GWS Giants put us to the sword while down back Lewis Young struggled to contain their tall forwards in Jeremy Cameron, Jeremy Finlayson and Harry Himmelberg.

A year onwards it was Roarke Smith, Ryan Gardner and Tim English who struggled to make any sort of impact against a much improved St Kilda outfit in the Second Elimination Final.

Mitch Hannan, although he hasn't had any finals demons for the Western Bulldogs, he has had a rough season where he has been below expectations after he was recruited in the AFL Trade Period last year.

Fast forward 12 months and all played an important part in the Western Bulldogs first finals victory since October 1st, 2016.

Ryan Gardner was part of a defence that held Essendon to their lowest score in a V/AFL final since 1908, Roarke Smith kept Andrew McGrath to 15 touches and a season-low five uncontested possessions while Lewis Young battled manfully in a very unfamiliar ruck position and was able to wear down Essendon's Sam Draper.

Forward trio Josh Schache, Mitch Hannan and Tim English had 43 disposals, four goals and 15 score involvements between them while halfback Bailey Dale gathered 19 disposals at 84% efficiency to go with 704 metres gained.

It does seem a bit strange to say Bailey Dale is a low-key one, especially after he was named an All Australian for his incredible season off the half-back flank but prior to this year, he was still an inconsistent medium-sized forward who had a knack for goal and one who played just nine games last year. Quite amazing his transformation this year to go from fringe forward and bottom-six player to All Australian half-back who is arguably in our top 10.

Each player named above has had a previous demon in finals series before and that can sometimes stay with a player for quite a long time.

The brilliant thing is that each and every one of those players was able to overcome the ghosts of their past and contribute to the team's push for a premiership this year, with some more than handy performances last Sunday against Essendon. They might not be the most spectacular of footballers on our list but it shows you that to win games of football it does not simply come down to having 22 stars out on the football field, it involves playing to a system and trusting your teammates to do their job.

No matter who you are, it takes a team effort to get the job done. We are in this together. Source: AFL Photos.

4) The Bromance Has Found Its Spark Once Again

Much has been made of Josh Dunkley and Adam Treloar this year.

In the first half of the season both Dunkley and Treloar were nothing short of brilliant as one returned to his primary inside midfield role while the other gelled seamlessly into an already stacked midfield division. Everything was going well until they were each beset injuries in rounds six and 10 with the former suffering a dislocated shoulder while the latter received a syndesmosis injury.

Their returns in rounds 18 and 21 have seen them slowly settle into the lineup but they have been a bit underwhelming and haven't obviously produced the football that we know they are capable of. No doubt these two injuries can take a lot out of a player but in the second half of the First Elimination Final we started to see signs of what both are capable of.

Treloar’s second half saw him accumulate 18 of his 28 possessions; which included 10 in the final quarter, helping the Dogs overwhelm the Bombers. On top of that 14 contested possessions show's that Treloar has lost no desire in chasing the ultimate success while 21 pressure acts (4th most for the Dogs) suggests he is getting more and more confident in his running power following his injury.

Dunkley on the other hand wasn't able to win plenty of the ball as he found the leather just 14 times, but it was his attack on the footy and dedication sticking to an unfamiliar task that might have put him back into form.

At the halftime siren, I was praying that a change would be made and that someone would go genuinely head to head with Darcy Parish who tore us to shreds in the second quarter as he collected 16 disposals and 276 metres gained and had 23 all up. Fortunately, that man was Josh Dunkley.

Dunkley played a critical role in the second half as he kept Essendon’s leading ball-winner on the day (and for the year) in Darcy Parish to a relatively quiet 12 disposals in the third and fourth quarters.

This different role he was given against Essendon might be just the tonic required to bring him back into the form he displayed earlier this season. I'd be expecting regular service to resume this Saturday night with Dunkley returning to his normal ball-winning ways when we take on the Brisbane Lions in the First Semi-Final of the 2021 AFL Finals Series. We have seen over the past few rounds that there has been a drop off in our midfield division with Bontempelli, Macrae and Liberatore doing a fair bit of the heavy lifting over the past three months but with Dunkley and Treloar looking like they are about to hit their straps once again, it allows the trio to remain fresh throughout the game and ready for more action.

5) Where To From Here And Is The Monkey Off The Back?

How nice is it to say we have progressed to the next stage of the Finals and are one step closer to making it to that last Saturday in September once more.

As confirmed by The Age's Daniel Cherny, the Western Bulldogs will be playing the Brisbane Lions this Saturday night at 7:20 pm AEST in front of a packed house at the Gabba.

Fortunately for our boys, according to Tom Morris from Fox Footy they will not need to be confined to their hotels in the lead-up to the game.

Even though I was pretty confident coming into last Sunday’s game, there no doubt was a small bit of doubt and fear that we could actually be the first team to lose to Essendon in a final since 2004 as I mentioned last week that the Bulldogs percentage from rounds 21-23 was a mere 81% whereas in the same timeframe Essendon’s was a massive 166%.

After falling short in finals in the past two seasons there had been an element that both 2019 and 2020 were wasted seasons considering the talent we had at hand.

This year we had been a side that had been in the top four for 20 rounds and to see us finish the home and away season in fifth was a fair kick in the guts.

Coming into season 2021 the minimum expectations that were put upon the Western Bulldogs was at least a finals win. That has been achieved. But what of the expectations that have been manifested throughout the season where many thought the chance of making a Grand Final was not only possible but probable? That of course is to be determined hopefully over the next three weeks.

In regards to previous years we no doubt have made a fair bit of progress but when focusing solely on 2021 you can say there is still unfinished business to achieve.

The Dogs haven’t won at the Gabba since round 20 2017 and have lost six of the past eight encounters at the venue dating back to round 20 2009 when we secured an 18-point win.

Let us continue to take inspiration from our Club motto and “Yield to none!”