5 Things We Learned - Round 4

For the sixth time in our 96 year history (1946, 1961, 1998, 2006, 2008 and 2021) in the AFL/VFL, the Western Bulldogs have kicked their season to the tune of a 4-0 start, defeating the Brisbane Lions by 19 points in the cold, windy and rainy conditions at Mars Stadium, Ballarat (which is turning out to be a handy little fortress!).

1) Where The Game Was Won

Sprints: 270-191. Repeat sprints: 31-14. Tackles: 81-50. Total distance covered: 278.4km to 270.1km.

Coach Luke Beveridge described the victory "as a workman like performance" and it is an apt description of what unfolded yesterday. It wasn't the cleanest of games but there was an aura of intensity and aggression which has become this years trademark for the club.

The tackles are also starting to stick a lot more often than before with 74% of our tackles successfully laid with Adam Treloar (29 possessions and 10 tackles) and wingman Lachie Hunter (career high 10 tackles) leading the way with Jackson Macrae and Josh Dunkley tallying eight apiece.

The Western Bulldogs effort and work rate across the game was simply fantastic from the first bounce and such efforts put us in good stead for the rest of the season, seeing that the mentality and attitude of the playing group is driven, determined and focused on the hunt for success.

2) Legitimate or not?

For the entirety of the 2020 season, the Bulldogs only victory against a top eight sides was against the West Coast Eagles by a point. Come a year later at round four we have already dispatched three of last years finalists and find ourselves on top of the ladder.

Many might argue that the margins within those three victories aren't earthshattering but what is more important is the style of play that is being executed on a consistent basis and one that is so far standing up against high calibre opponents.

Coming into season 2020 people might have expected us to be 2-2 at round four so for us to bank three wins against last years top eight this early in the season is incredibly important and something that suggests there is unfinished business at the Kennel.

With the Gold Coast Suns and the GWS Giants to come at Marvel Stadium and Manuka Oval, our next litmus test comes against Richmond under Friday night lights. It is very early in the season but the signs are promising and this should now be the standard we are to expect for the course of the year.

We've got ourselves off to a great start, now it's time to push on and capitalise on it and put some distance between us and the rest of the competition.

After his fifth 30+ possession game in Ballarat the romance between Jackson Macrae and Mars Stadium continues. Source: Getty Images

3) The Defensive Unit

Pre game there were may discussions on how the Bulldogs were going to combat Brisbane's forward line who had ranked first and third for points for across the 2019 and 2020 seasons and especially whether we would play a second key defender in Lewis Young to replaced the injured Ryan Gardner or not.

Since 2017 the Brisbane Lions have converted 23.7% of their inside 50 entries into goals which is above the league average of 22.91% across that time, yesterday the Dogs held them to eight goals from 44 entries or 18.2%.

We might have given up 111 marks but only nine of those were taken inside 50 and it emphasises how well we set up our structures. This highlights that there wasn't a huge amount of aggressive ball movement from the Lions as we forced them to play a ball-retention based game style to break through our zone set up down back and in the midfield.

Young who played his first game for the club since round one last year was vital in the win gathering 13 intercept possessions (second most on the ground behind Harris Andrews, 14), five intercept marks, four of those in an uncontested fashion, highlighting his ability to read the ball in the air better then his counterparts.

His inclusion also allowed Alex Keath to play his most aggressive game at the club, registering six rebounds, his most since round eight against the Gold Coast Suns last year.

4) Contested Marking Beasts.

If you control the skies, you control the territory game and it is brilliant to finally see it

I mentioned in last week's article that we have some serious fire power but it now official that we have for the first time in a long time a genuinely strong side in the air.

Across the opening four games of the season the Dogs have registered 59 contested marks (2nd in the league), which is the most we have tallied since rounds four to seven last where we took 50 and went 3-1 in that fixture block and our best effort since the opening four games of the 2017 season with 53 (also 3-1).

Pleasingly 34 of our contested marks this year have come from key position players in Tim English with 13, Aaron Naughton with nine and 2019 recruits in Josh Bruce and Alex Keath with six each.

Only one key position player on our list since 2013 reached 100 or more marks for the season (Naughton in 2019). How good would it be to see all three of our forward giants in Bruce, English and Naughton surpass that figure and create havoc along the way.

5) Tim English the Giant

I thought about discussing English as a topic point last week but decided against it. This week I have no choice but to bring him up after a top tier performance that could been so much more dominant.

After reaching 50 games last round, English put together the most imposing performance of his career to date; a career high nine marks, five of those contested, four clearances, seven score involvements, 17 disposals, 11 contested possessions and six scoring shots (3.3).

The recruitment of Stefan Martin was much needed and it has already been a success in allowing English to hone in his forward craft and reap the rewards. English's best goal tally in previous seasons was eight, this figure has already been equalled in four games this year.

English might have played better matches as a mobile, intercepting ruckman but his performance against the Brisbane Lions defence emphasised how strong his aerial game has become and what a legitimate threat he is forward of centre.

English also played a significant role in us winning the hitout count for the first time since round seven in 2019 against Richmond; ending a 37 game streak of losing the statistic, attending 27 ruck contests for eight hitouts with four of them to advantage.

English leads the competition for contested marks (13) and has the most goals (8) amongst any player spending significant time in the ruck. He is arguably the best ruck-forward in the competition at the moment, give him the three Brownlow votes and be done with it.

Tim English was colossal against the Brisbane Lions, taking five contested marks. Source: Getty Images