The 5 Things We Learned - Round 22

If last week was dismal, then yesterday was nothing short of embarrassing as the Western Bulldogs were defeated by Hawthorn, 5.7.37 to 9.10 64 at UTAS Stadium in Tasmania. Before round 21 there was talk of us having the possibility of securing our maiden minor premiership but those aspirations have ended with Melbourne now six points ahead of us.

It was a performance that can be summed up in one word. Uninspiring.

The defeat in Tasmania was the Western Bulldogs first appearance in the state since round three 2015 and have only won once on the Apple Isle which came in round 10 2008 when we defeated the Hawks by 32 points at York Park.

Even though we have dropped the eightball in recent weeks we can still finish second on the AFL ladder provided we sort out this mess we are currently in for round 23 against Port Adelaide in a match that will decide just how far we can go in September.

1) Where The Match Was Lost

Where do I begin 2.0...

With plenty on the line, we barely gave a yelp and played like a side devoid of confidence instead of one that is supposed to be threatening for a premiership while the Hawks played like a side with a mission to be achieved.

You aren't going to win many games of football if you are only kicking 37 points in a game and it isn't like 64 points is an insurmountable score to overcome or the score to win you a game.

We have scored the 3rd most points of any club from stoppages this year so for us to have only managed 16 points from that source was disappointing. When you add in that we also could only create 21 points from turnovers after we average 57 (ranked first in the league), it is two chunks of our scoring methods that are contained.

The less said about Mitch Hannan and Jason Johannisen the better as they are not pulling their weight as small and medium forwards who are meant to lock the ball inside 50. When your midfield is struggling to get the ball up forward, you cannot afford to let the ball come out with ease, and having only nine inside 50 tackles (compared to Hawthorn's 17) highlighted the mentality the team went in with. A lack of desire and hunt to do what was required when the game wasn't going our way.

On the topic of inside 50s, we only had 35 for the day which is well and truly short of what we have come to expect this season after averaging almost 54 per game this year. Again, with that limited amount of supply you need to make the most of your chances which was something we did not do (5.7).

We saw how Essendon last week was able to make the most of their 39 entries and I'm not just talking goal accuracy but the generation of creating shots at goal. This week we went at 48% forward half kicking efficiency which was 16% less than Hawthorn while we only had 15 registered shots at goal with just 12 of them hitting the scoreboard.

On top of that we only scored just the one goal in the opening quarter against a side that is one of the worst first-quarter teams in the competition.

Marcus Bontempelli being tackled by Hawk Dan Howe pretty much summed up our day. Source: AFL Photos

2) We Are Way To Reliant On Our Midfield To Get The Job Done

Obviously many matches are decided for the most part of how each team's midfield combats the other but

If our midfield division of Bontempelli, Liberatore, Macrae, Dunkley, Treloar and Smith don't win their duels, we simply don't win and what we have seen over the past two weeks is that when they are slightly off we are pretty easily contained as a unit and not good enough to adapt to this challenge.

Even with Marcus Bontempelli and Jackson Macrae having 30+ possessions (31 & 32) the Dogs were only able to manufacture 35 inside 50s which is by far our lowest amount of the season by quite some margin.

Together they combined for eight inside 50 entries while Lachlan Hunter, Bailey Smith, Tom Liberatore, Josh Dunkley and Adam Treloar could only muster 11 between them which is beyond putrid and when you factor that happened against a team missing Jaegar Omeara and James Worpel from its midfield it is nothing short of embarrassing.

It does make sense of course that a teams best players; who are generally midfielders, are naturally more influential in winning a game but we shouldn't be needing to rely that much on them acquiring huge numbers for us to get the job done.

I feel it is more the fault of the other players within our team that is forcing our star players to pick up the extra slack and compensate for the lack of effort and dedication of the others and this has made a fair few of them spent. A select few blokes have been carrying the team in the second half of the season and it appears that it has finally caught up with them and they are running on empty.

From round 11 onwards we have a 6-5 record and are 3-3 over the past six weeks.

3) Walking Wounded But Are We Running On Empty?

Consider the names Treloar, Naughton, Dunkley, Keath, Vandermeer and Wood.

That is at least four players who are certainly in our best 22 and two others who have shown that in their brief and long careers that they warrant a spot.

Now add in Ryan Gardner; who missed last week due to Tasmania's COVID regulations, and Stefan Martin are set to return to the lineup and we could potentially have up to a third of our side named this Friday coming back from medium to long term injuries, but at least in a structural sense we are starting to resemble something that can solve a few problems.

That said we have no choice but to roll the dice and load up on this Friday's game in every way shape or form possible.

I touched on it in the previous "Lesson" that we need more from our lesser lights and this is especially true when our major players are down in form while the next tier options aren't standing up as they should be on matchday. We speak of leadership and now is not the time to throw the baby out of the bathwater but to reconsolidate belief and to calm down.

We need leadership now but not just on a matchday sense and from our best players but from those that fill up the chosen 22 as well and others within the Clubs four walls. Perhaps it might be time to recall Mitch Wallis and Hayden Crozier as they could be the ones who play an important role in preventing this ship sinking like the Titanic.

We are going to have to see the very best of Luke Beveridge as a coach as he will need to reset the player's mindsets to believe that they can still achieve something quite special in 2021, which will make it all the more memorable.

Adam Treloar made his long-awaited return to the Western Bulldogs lineup against Hawthorn last Saturday. Source: AFL Photos

4) Is This Team Going To Fulfill Its Potential?

For the first half of the season, the answer to this question was a resounding yes.

From rounds 11 to 15 the answer still was yes but a bit less assertive.

From rounds 16 to 20 we weren't playing brilliant by any means but we were still picking up the wins and people remained hopeful for this year.

Now we have fallen to fourth spot in a blink of an eye after being on top of the ladder at the start of round 21

The past two rounds have seen our results reflect the form we showed in the previous five games as although we sang the team song on three occasions we looked nothing like the form we showed earlier this year.

2017 was one massive hangover while 2018 we can let slide due to a number of circumstances that cost us severely but the past two seasons we massively underachieved and we have had three first-round finals exits in the previous six seasons. For a team with our talent, it is certainly not good enough, even accounting for the Premiership in 2016.

It is a habit that has slowly crept into our identity over the past few years and the longer you extrapolate that form, it eventually becomes self-fulfilling.

We have to get out of this slump otherwise this version of ourselves falling over when it matters - which has happened in recent years - will become the identity of this team which will ultimately mirror image the club's history of having very talented, capable sides that just couldn't get the job done when the whips were cracking.

We are supposed to be building up steam not losing the plot and there is a genuine possibility that we could go from the top of the AFL ladder in round 20 to eliminated in the first week of the finals at this current pace. We can't afford to have this year go to waste and be undone by the past two weeks and must win a final at the minimum.

5) Finals Comes Early

After needing just one win from our final three games to seal a top-four spot, our final ladder position will come down to our last game of the season. It is a situation that should never have happened first of all as complacency, selfishness and a massive drop of form have destabilised our 2021 AFL campaign.

The fortunate thing is our fate is still in our hands.

There is a cumulative total of 25 points that have massive ramifications in round 23 - the total we potentially lose by and the figure Brisbane probably wins by - which determine whether we finish top four or not.

It's really that simple. Win and we can regroup and give ourselves a chance at hosting a home qualifying final. Lose and we'll still have a home elimination final coming our way but with a huge lack of form and many, many issues it might be the end of 2021 for us after plenty of promise.

Each of our five losses has been worse than the preceding one but we need to regain our sense of belief and focus on the immediate task at hand, nothing else and that starts with Port Adelaide this Friday at Marvel Stadium. Finals have come early and we need to kick-start our season once again before what's left of our flame is extinguished.

Even if it looks extremely hard right now to see, we have won 15 games this year and are a very good side; albeit in a massive form slump. We have seen how quickly a side's fortunes can change over the course of one week and we will be hoping that it will reverse next round.

The team is no doubt capable of responding but many thought that'd be the case following the performance in round 21.

We really are about to see what this Western Bulldogs team stands for. Time to saddle up for the ride.