The 5 Things We Learned - Grand Final

It has been a week since the 2021 AFL Grand Final and this member of The Salty Bulldog has finally gotten over the defeat and had the chance to reflect properly on it.

It wasn't the Grand Final we all hoped for as the Western Bulldogs were defeated by the Melbourne Demons, 10.6.66 to 21.14.140 at Perth Stadium in front of 61,118 people.

Even now, I think we are all still a bit shell-shocked with what happened in those closing stages of the third quarter and the final term was simply just a blur and just mind-numbing.

After three sudden-death finals victories that each had us feeling a range of emotions, we were left with a touch of hope midway through the third quarter before it ultimately all came to a crashing halt.

We are no doubt still a very good football side and probably didn't deserve to go down in such fashion but we have now seen what the benchmark is for next year and we now just have to rise to a new challenge.

Regardless of how it ended, to the Western Bulldogs thank you for the wild journey and joy you have given each and every single one of its members and supporters in 2021 and we look forward to seeing you climb the mountain once again as you did in 2016.

Cede Nullis!

The Western Bulldogs line up for the Australian National Anthem at Perth Stadium. Source: AFL Photos.

1) Where The Match Was Lost

The last quarter wasn't any fun at all for obvious reasons but the game was mathematically done before that as only one Grand Finalist in the AFL era and just three of the past 42 premiers had come from behind – regardless of the margin – after three-quarter time.

Even a week on, I am still trying to decipher what the hell actually happened in those final stages of the third quarter but I will give it a try!

From the 17-minute mark of the third quarter, the Demons registered 10 inside 50s which resulted in seven goals (from eight scores) and this was the only time that a team this year had such a run against us.

In those final 15 minutes of that term, our centre bounce set up saw Liberatore attend seven centre stoppages, Treloar with six, Bontempelli with five, English with four while Macrae and Martin attended three apiece.

Conversely, Melbourne’s trio of Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney were all present at each of those seven centre bounces. What was interesting is that our leading centre bounce attendee in Macrae was only at three of those seven while Dunkley just appeared in three across the entire game.

In that 15 minute stretch, the Dogs conceded four goals from centre bounces with three of them coming in that last minute of the quarter. For the other 112 minutes of the game, we conceded just three goals from centre bounces.

I understand that there are only three players other than the ruckman who can attend a centre bounce but in those final minutes, for us the game was there to be wrestled back while in Melbourne’s case it was there to be won, and by that logic, we needed our best defensive and biggest bodied midfielders at those stoppages.

Another issue was that we only took five marks in that timespan and this didn’t give us the chance to reset and deflect the Demon's powerful forays. With Melbourne quickening things up, we needed to react accordingly and not try and beat them at their own game but more so counter it by slowing the game down and play tempo football.

Another telling statistic was the Demons kicking efficiency in their forward half as they went

18% more than the Dogs (52%-70%) across the four quarters but in that 15-minute timeframe, that statistic was 60%-84%, a difference of 24%. Allowing a team to go at 84% by foot certainly spells disaster and it gave the Demons several clean and very damaging forward entries on which they scored on eight occasions with seven of those being converted into goals.

Coming into the game the Dogs also ranked #1 for attacking efficiency when converting their inside 50 entries into scoring shots at 46%. In comparison the Demons were the best at preventing such opportunities, allowing a league-low 35% of opposition entries and you guessed it, in the Grand Final we only scored from 35% of our 49 inside 50s (16 shots from 49 I50s).

A strong defense will always beat a strong offense.

Throughout the season we also averaged 18.6 defensive half turnovers but in our three encounters against Melbourne, we committed 24, 29 and again 29 turnovers in that half of the ground, each of them well above our season average.

That figure in the Grand Final was our equal worst amount of the season and the fact it occurred on the biggest stage says it all. We got away with it in round 19 with the weather playing a big factor in the result but in the cleaner, clear conditions that Perth Stadium provided and a confident, well-rested and importantly settled Melbourne outfit it proved too much. When you give the ball away 29 times from your back half (74 total turnovers) you are asking for huge trouble and it no doubt lead to a large portion of the 74 points we gave away via turnovers.

There were several factors that lead to our downfall on the night but perhaps it is easier to say that travel and quarantine finally caught up with us and we just ran right out of puff at the very end as it is less painful.

Statistics courtesy of Champion Data.

2) Can We Take Any Positives Out Of The Game?

I get the irony of discussing positives in a heavy Grand Final defeat We reached the last week of the V/AFL season for just the fourth time in our history and it is a position that 16 other clubs would have loved to be in. Yes, it was an absolutely unexpected but poor way to finish the year but it shouldn't override just how good we were in 2021.

Considering how nervous we started in the first quarter the fact we came back in the second term with such a response says this is a proud group.

We did more than enough right to get back into the game after a very average opening quarter and managed to kick six goals to one and eight of the past nine goals from the second quarter till midway through the third to build that 19-point lead.

We probably were just another goal from arguably breaking them but it is no consolation and it is now just a crying shame that the effort which put us in a winning position came unstuck as quickly as it did.

Personally, I think there wasn't anyone stopping Melbourne when they got the game back on their terms and it hurts we were the team that bore the brunt of that devastating assault in the final quarter.

I firmly believe it is pretty clear to see that we were the most likely of the teams in this year's top eight who stood a genuine chance of halting Melbourne’s very impressive season but it just wasn’t to be and there is no shame in that. Hopefully, this game stings us well and truly and we use it to galvanise the team to greater heights that we are very much capable of.

3) Who Stood Up Under The Heat?

Unfortunately, technically no one stood up under the heat of the moment when the game was at its zenith and up for grabs but there were a few players whose performances should see them hold their head up high for the most part.

We can sing Marcus Bontempelli's praise all day but our second quarter push pretty came off the back of his brilliance. 10 disposals, Six kicks, seven uncontested possessions, three marks, two inside 50s, and two goals that came from set shots saw the game's best player stamp his mark on the contest and set us alight.

After “Bont” kicked his third goal midway through the third quarter many Dogs supporters were truly dreaming of a third premiership and a probable Norm Smith Medal for the superstar but it wasn't to be. 25 disposals, three goals, 13 contested disposals, 30 pressure acts, six tackles and eight score involvements, "Bont" did what he could but it was a shame the others weren't able to go with him.

In a team that conceded 21 goals on the day, Taylor Duryea was once again fantastic as he kept Kysaiah Pickett in his pocket all game and important zero goals and just the four possessions despite the barrage of inside 50 entries. It was the exclamation mark of a fantastic season from the lockdown defender who has made himself this year an extremely crucial member of the lineup and thoroughly deserved his top 10 placing in the Charle Sutton Medal. Duryea had five intercept possessions and four marks from his 16 disposals and went at just a smidge under 94 percent.

Caleb Daniel was another player who was impressive throughout the game but especially in the first half with 26 of his 37 disposals (a season-high and 2nd most of his career) coming in that time. In addition to that Daniel had 10 intercept possessions, six marks, nine defensive rebounds and 18 pressure acts. Disappointingly he had only three touches when the game was at its hottest in that third quarter but it shouldn't reflect poorly on him across the whole game.

Adam Treloar was another player who could hold his head up high after he capped off his finals campaign with three goals from his 27 possessions, six score involvements, three marks and 17 pressure acts. All of this went at 89% efficiency and he only had two turnovers in a high-pressure game.

It wasn't a big night on the stats sheet for Roarke Smith but often that is generally the case for him.

16 disposals, four marks, 20 pressure acts, five tackles and our first goal in the Grand Final which came after crashing a pack of players. It has been a long road but that contest that lead to our opening goal sums him right up. A player who has limitations but it doesn't phase him of what's ahead.

Both Roarke Smith (left) and Adam Treloar were two of the Bulldogs best in the Grand Final.

Source: AFL Photos.

4) Will This Make Or Break Us?

I think the question on everyone's minds after the 2021 AFL Grand Final was "How do we bounce back from this?".

We made a lot of progress in 2021 and even with the Grand Final defeat we seemed to regain a lot of respect that seemed to have disappeared post-2016 but what sort of damage does that final quarter and a half have on the playing group heading into 2022 in a psychological sense.

We have seen such defeats in a Grand Final can potentially break a side, as it did to Port Adelaide in 2007, Adelaide in 2017 and GWS in 2019 and it set them back.

That said we have seen examples where that hasn't been the case with sides like Geelong who in the 2010 Preliminary Final were completely obliterated before bouncing back 12 months later with a Premiership against the very team who vanquished them the year earlier. West Coast in 2015 was crushed by the great Hawthorn side but they would go on to win a Grand Final three years later.

Sydney was annihilated in 2014 before bouncing back with back-to-back top-four finishes and a Grand Final over the next two seasons.

Even the amazing Hawthorn side of the 1980s lost two Grand Finals in 1984 and 1985 in contrasting fashion before responding with three flags in 1986, 1988 and 1989.

Of course, we aren’t those sides and no one really ever can be but we were on top of the ladder for eight rounds this year and won 18 of our 26 games which is the second most wins our club has obtained in any respective season (after 2016). We are still a very good football team.

We have shown just how resilient this group can be as we have made the 2019 and 2020 AFL Finals from very tricky positions as well as that many people thought after our late season drop off that we would suffer a third consecutive (and potentially a fourth) First Round Finals exit under Beveridge but we were able to pull through and find our touch once again.

The margin no doubt blew out much larger than anyone had expected but there certainly wasn't a feeling that we were outclassed but more of us being overwhelmed in the end by a team whose powerful attacking weapons hit overdrive and was on a date with destiny, much like us in 2016.

The game would be etched into the back of the player's minds but they have shown they are up for the fight. Preseason is just a few months away and this will burn them all Summer long.

Am I trying to convince myself while writing these words? Potentially. But I know for sure that we despite all the difficulties we faced in 2021 we still were able to push along and display what we were capable of.

Despite the defeat, we are still well placed for next season and should have zero fear in facing any opponent. Even the Melbourne Football Club.

As Leigh Matthews once quoted a line from Predator ‘if it bleeds, we can kill it.’

Let the hunt begin.

United we rise. United we fall. Source: AFL Photos

5) Where To From Here

A week has passed since the 2021 AFL Grand Final and our eyes are now solely fixated on the AFL Trade and Free Agency Period and the National Draft to see what Sam "The Wizard" Power can conjure up.

We have seen in each of the past three Trade and Free Agency Periods just how savvy Power; especially last year, after paying a fair price for a number of talented yet unheralded footballers who each have made a big difference to the team and are in our best 22.

In recent years the Dogs have run a tight ship and there has been barely any information leaked out of the club in regards to trade or free agency targets but this is where Power’s best work has come from behind the shadows.

We do have enough cap space for a good player but with several big names coming out of contract next year on our list I think it will be quite a lowkey offseason for us.

Of course, there is the probable drafting of Sam Darcy who will no doubt cost us quite a pretty penny.

With GWS a very strong chance of bidding on Darcy at pick two, there is little chance the father-son prospect will slide beyond the top five and as such, the price of his drafting will be quite hefty.

Patrick Lipinski requesting a trade to Collingwood gives the Dogs a chance to stockpile some much-needed draft points on a player who although is talented, is still surplus to our needs and requirements

Lewis Young has also requested a trade to Carlton, turning down a two-year deal to remain with the Dogs. Perhaps he has seen the writing on the wall with Darcy likely coming in and the likelihood that Josh Schache will float up and back next year.

Jordon Sweet has attracted interest from multiple clubs but has a deal offered to stay while there hasn’t been a huge amount of interest in Mitch Wallis who currently has a one-year deal to stay with us. I would be happy to retain both for 2022 but both these players aren’t going to make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things.

Ruckman Stefan Martin has stated that he is keen to play in 2022 and even if we were to bring in another ruck option, I would be keeping the former Demon and Lion on our list regardless of his age (35).

Clearly, Martin is not what he once was but he still is capable of playing good football and his experience and knowledge would mesh well for an on-field coaching role, especially with Steven King taking up a coaching position at the Gold Coast.

The Western Bulldogs currently have picks 17 and 75 (=1025 points) in the 2021 AFL National Draft plus a full hand at next year’s draft. According to Tom Browne a potential trade with Richmond has been mooted for our first-round pick as they happen to have three second-round selections and two-third round picks while Tom Morris believes a similar deal with Adelaide could also be underway.

Pleasingly there have been links to Hawthorn pair Jonathon Ceglar and Tim O'Brien who would solve some key position issues for us.

There is a bit to do with not much in hand but it’s time to sit back and watch Sam Power go to work and find a few magic beans with two hands tied behind his back.