5 Things We Learned - Round 8

The Western Bulldogs have defeated Carlton in a high scoring encounter on Mother's Day, 16.11 107 to 13.13 91 after coming from 27 points behind. After having a fit for the first three quarters, the Dogs fortunately kicked into action in the last term to record a 16-point victory to calm the blood pressure of the red, white and blue faithful including yours truly. The victory was our seventh of the season and considering how Carlton have troubled us as of late, I was rather happy to see us bank the four points.

1) Where The Game Was Won and the Road Runner.

27 points down at the 25-minute mark of the third quarter, things were looked pretty bleak and the possibility of being 6-2, going two games behind Melbourne, only one game ahead of Geelong, Brisbane and West Coast and a challenging fixture in the distance, was on the cards.

With the game on the line and us 14 points down, the Dogs dominated the last quarter recording 96-65 disposals, won the contested ball 36-21, led the inside 50 count 18-7 and converted 33% of our entries into goals, which was well above the AFL season average of 23%.

We had players perform throughout the day and yes there were three in particular who stood up across the whole game in Josh Bruce, Marcus Bontempelli and Tom Liberatore but there was one whose impact has slid under the radar. Jason Johannisen.

It sounds ironic that a six possession game can be praised but when you look a little deeper at the numbers you can see my point.

Four of Johannisen's six disposals were inside 50s, had two goal assists, five score involvements, kicked a goal in his 150th game and had the most repeat sprint efforts on the ground with six.

This is without even focusing on the role Johannisen did; alongside Caleb Daniel, in blanketing Adam Saad, limiting him to just the 12 possessions, eight uncontested possessions, two marks, 339 metres gained at 42% efficiency.

Johannisen might not be the playmaker he used to be and seems to be used more as a role player these days but he is still a quality footballer and a high impact player and it is great to see that Beveridge has found a way to keep "JJ" in the lineup.

That said I still have to give a shout out to Liberatore, Bontempelli and Bruce.

Liberatore surely has regained his throne as the leagues premier clearance winner, collecting another 13 on the weekend and played a huge role in our centre clearance domination (23-7), gathering more centre clearances than Carlton (nine vs seven).

To highlight the rich vein of form "Libba" is in, he has gathered 72 clearances this year in eight games, which is just two short of last years total from 16 matches. Simply amazing.

Having a player like Marcus Bontempelli on your side also helps. The "Bont" bounced back from last weeks below-par performance by his lofty standards and stood up throughout the day, especially in the second half where he notched 17 disposals (32 disposals all up), 12 contested possessions (19), nine score involvements (12), and six clearances (10 for the game).

Add another 10 AFLCA Champion Player of the Year votes, which takes him to 32 and equal seventh on the leaderboard where he is one vote behind teammate Jackson Macrae.

Please hurry up and sign that contract extension.

When we recruited Josh Bruce, it was to be the number one man and not just simply someone who was there to shield Naughton but that hasn't been the case since the start of 2020 with the young key position player assuming the mantle instead.

On Sunday afternoon probably for the first time since joining the Red, White and Blue, it felt like Bruce was "The Man" in charge and arguably put together his most impressive and important game in the tricolours. After being disappointed with his second half last week against Richmond, Bruce stood up against the Blues and kept us in the game when the going was tough.

Coach Luke Beveridge had to dwell deep into his bag of tricks to see the Dogs overcome a 27-point deficit. Source: Getty Images.

2) The Unheralded Pair Are Making Their Marks.

Two players who probably weren't in anyone's starting 22 at the beginning of the year have featured in every game to date. Those two players are Lachlan McNeil and Anthony Scott.

McNeil was selected with pick 11 in the 2020 Rookie Draft while Scott was recruited in the Preseason Supplementary Draft, courtesy of the retirement of Sam Lloyd after the 2020 National Draft.

A midfield for Woodville-West Torrens, McNeil has spent the majority of his time at the Bulldogs as a small forward with small bursts up the field at stoppages. On the other hand, after originally starting this year as a role player down back, in recent weeks Scott has found himself in more familiar territory in the forward line and it is no surprise to see him starting to impact games in a position where he won Footscray's 2019 Best and Fairest.

In an important win against Carlton, McNeil and Scott combined for 23 disposals, 12 score involvements (eight for Scott), 32 pressure acts (18 & 14), laid seven tackles (five for McNeil) with four of those coming inside 50 (three & one), and kicked two goals (two for Scott).

For two first-year players who have had different journey's to get into the AFL system, they are more than handy numbers as they both progress from finding their feet at AFL level to now settling nicely into the Bulldogs best side.

Currently, McNeil and Scott are the only small forwards on our list who find themselves in our top 10 leading goal scorers (five apiece) and while we aren't receiving groundbreaking games from either of them, I wouldn't expect to see them out of the side anytime soon.

3) We Are Becoming Last Quarter Specialists.

In recent history, we have seen the Dogs do the hard yards, reign in a challenging lead, hit the front but ultimately fall short in heartbreaking fashion. This is not the case in 2021 as we have run out games quite strongly, with the last break being the heaviest scoring terms for the year as we have kicked 33% (37) of our 114 goals in these quarters.

Third quarters this year might be public enemy number one at the Kennel but our last quarters have been quite the opposite and are extremely impressive. In the eight fourth quarters this year, the Dogs have piled on 37 goals; the most in the competition, have scored a total of 254 points (average of 31.75 points), and are one of only two teams (Essendon) who have kicked 30 or more goals.

To emphasise how strong offensively we have been in final quarters, the Bulldogs have won five of eight which have been by a total of 160 points (average of 32) and have kicked over 30 points on each of those five occasions.

It is not just in attack though that the Dogs are excelling in.

Defensively we have also conceded just 121 points (average of 15.12 points) in fourth quarters and have only twice given up more than two goals, which were against GWS (3) and Richmond (4) and of the three fourth quarters we've lost, it has only been by an average of nine points.

Statistics courtesy of FinalSiren.

4) Lack of Team Cohesion is hurting us.

After making just three changes to the team list from rounds one to three, the Western Bulldogs have made 14 changes over the past month, with nine of those having forced our hand.

With us playing a system based game style that is built upon trust, continuity and chemistry, having such a high number of changes would no doubt affect the balance of the side and cause disruption to the line-up. This has certainly played a part in the up and down form the Bulldogs have displayed over the past four weeks, where we have relied more on bursts and moments of individual brilliance than a collective unit to get the job done.

Beveridge mentioned in his post-game press conference that besides an injury to Lachie Hunter there was a clean bill of health for the Dogs but I get the feeling that there will be more than one unforced change to the side that defeated Carlton with Williams, English and Gardner all in the frame for selection. Hopefully, soon there will be a settled Western Bulldogs outfit on the park.

5) Our Midfield Depth Is Being Stretched.

With Dunkley out long-term with a shoulder reconstruction and the probable absence of Hunter with a broken hand, our much-vaunted midfield; although still filled with much class and quality, is taking a fair whack.

When you combine that with our primary and secondary ruckman spending time on the sidelines and the indifferent form of Bailey Smith who is battling through his new role on the wing, our biggest strength is being affected in a big way.

We saw how much Hunter's absence hurt us last year in the first half of the season as he is such an integral player in implementing our game plan.

It took Hunter a few games to get the ball rolling in 2021 but he certainly has had some important moments during this season and Sunday afternoon against the Blues was no exception, kicking the all-important first goal of the final quarter to continue our comeback charge, while battling a broken hand throughout the entire second half.

Hunter hasn't yet been ruled out for Saturday night's game against Port Adelaide and hopefully, he can recover pretty quickly as we move into a defining stage of the season that will truly test our credentials.

Hold the fort until the troops arrive.

One of the leagues best wingmen, Lachie Hunter has added an attacking edge to his game tallying five goals and 10 goal assists (equal sixth in the AFL) from his eight games this year. Source: Getty Images.