The Western Bulldogs have pulled off one of the bravest wins of the AFL season to date, fighting back from 29 points down then hanging on against a wayward Hawthorn to claim a six-point win, 12.5 (77) to 9.17 (71), in a thrilling, fiery clash.
The Hawks owned the first half, but the Dogs flipped the script in the second half as the wasteful Hawks kicked themselves out of a win.
Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.Goals to Tim English, Marcus Bontempelli and Aaron Naughton were enough in the last quarter to get the Dogs over the line as the Hawks could only manage five behinds in the final quarter.
You can sense a rivalry brewing between these two sides. Spotfires sparked all night – none bigger than an old fashioned quarter time melee which saw Rory Lobb and Blake Hardwick having a wrestle right against the fence. Michael Sellwood was involved all night with Nick Watson and Sellwood and Mabior Chol had a little melee at three quarter time. Will Lewis and James Sicily also butted heads all night – at one point wrestling for a solid minute, while the game continued around them.
But it was the Dogs who had the last laugh as they ran out six-point winners.
“Tooth and nail, that’s the Bulldogs way. One of the great wins!” Fox Footy’s Anthony Hudson said.
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Nick Coffield was the unlikely late-game hero, nailing a spoil in the middle of the MCG in the dying seconds to stop a Hawks forward foray and seal a memorable win.
“I don’t know how he (Nick Coffield) found the speed to get there (to spoil) but he did,” Bulldog Ed Richards said on Fox Footy post-game.
“I mean, that’s the stuff that wins the close ones, f***ing unbelievable. Sorry about the swearing, but just raw emotion.
“That (win) meant so much to this group. I mean, they’ve had the wood over us for ages.
“They probably helped us out with some bad kicking, but that’s footy. We were able to take our chances and they weren’t.”
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THE 3-2-1 …
3. ‘TURNED THIS GAME ON ITS HEAD’: DOGS REMARKABLY RECTIFY ‘SMASHING’ IN BRAVE FIGHTBACK, STAR’S 637-DAY RELIEF
The Bulldogs remain the close-game kings this year, and their latest heist came most improbably after trailing Hawthorn by as many as 27 points.
The Hawks built their ascendancy from dominance at the coalface, “smashing” the Bulldogs in one of the strongest areas of their game.
The Dogs entered Friday night in second in the competition for clearances, but Hawthorn won the first nine centre clearances of the game, in a stark tale of its early midfield dominance.
“It is a smashing,” Lyon said, with Jai Newcombe and Will Day doing the damage in the guts.
The Bulldogs also looked vulnerable defending transition in a second quarter that saw the Hawks kick six goals to two.
“They couldn’t win a centre bounce … it just shows how important this territory battle (has been),” Lewis said at half-time.
“It’s been an area where Hawthorn has been proficient.”
On what the Bulldogs had to do to get back into the contest, Hawkins said: “They need to win around the footy. Their one-wood is their stoppage game, so that’s what they need to get back to.
“They need to get the ball going forward, have a little bit of ascendancy in the forward half. And when the ball goes in there, either score or hold it in there, and try to put the Hawks under pressure.”
And Luke Beveridge got the response he desired from his charges, kicking five goals to one to get within eight points at the final change.
“This is an admirable comeback from the Dogs; they didn’t look like it at half-time,” Lyon said.
“They’ve just amped it up a bit, the pressure’s come on, mixed up the way they’ve used the footy – haven’t been as predictable.”
After the Dogs’ fifth goal of the quarter, which brought them to within six points, they’d notched 10 of the last 11 clearances in the game to well and truly snatch the stoppage momentum.
After nailing Jai Newcombe in a tackle in the pocket, Marcus Bontempelli put the Bulldogs in front with a snap at the seven-minute mark of the final term – perhaps just reminding him who the king of the coalface still is.
“The clearance domination continues – (it’s) turned this game on its head; 9-3 for the quarter, 4-0 out of the middle to the Dogs,” Lyon said halfway through the last quarter.
The Bulldogs made it six wins from six in tight games this season.
“We were pretty poor in that first half and then they started to get on top, and a few of their smalls were starting to get chirpy, a bit niggly, and then we were just like ‘well, we can’t just sit here and take it once again, so let’s just go out there, put our bodies on the line, and see what happens,” Richards said.
“We did in the end, and as I said before they helped us out with some bad kicking, but a win’s a win.”
And in a massive boost to the Bulldogs’ attack, Cody Weightman was back for his first AFL match in 637 days.
Straight back into the seniors instead of a run in the VFL, his immediate return was a telling sign of his worth in Luke Beveridge’s eyes.
A supreme livewire when up and running, Weightman had been struck down by a rare congenital knee condition called bipartite patella, where his kneecap bone failed to fuse together into a single piece.
“The challenge will be the mental fatigue,” Jordan Lewis said pre-game.
Starting on the wing before settling forward, Weightman was involved early, drawing a free kick for holding the man in one of a few early possessions.
He popped up for brief moments through the night – not able to kick what would’ve been a crowd-lifting goal – but the fact he got through unscathed would be of enough solace.
2. ‘HE’S GIVING ME A BIT’: ‘UNSTOPPABLE’ WATSON FIRES UP IN HOT CLASH … BUT GALLANT DOG FIGHTS
Nick Watson remains simply uncontainable at forward-50 stoppages, and he was described as “the difference” early on Friday night.
But it was a stark tale of two halves for the Hawks, who kicked just one second-half goal and surrendered a 27-point half-time lead to lose in agonising fashion.
Mesmerising livewire Watson was pitted against the Bulldogs’ Michael Sellwood in a fiery one-on-one sideshow, and he had his way with the emerging Dog in the first half.
Again exhibiting his roving wizardry, Watson booted three first-half goals with seven score involvements from just nine disposals.
“He’s unstoppable, once he’s on the move,” an in-awe Garry Lyon said on Fox Footy in the second quarter.
“Sellwood’s got his hands full – I just wonder how long Luke Beveridge is going to persist with it.”
Fox Footy caller Anthony Hudson added: “He’s the difference, now.”
Watson, who was entangled with Sellwood in a quarter-time brouhaha that involved several players from both sides, said he was all for the drama.
“He’s giving me a bit – I don’t care if he talks, as long as he walks the walk. I’d love to see it in the second half,” Watson told Fox Footy’s Ben Dixon at half-time.
Four-time Hawthorn premiership star Jordan Lewis explained what he believed was the glaring flaw in the Watson-Sellwood matchup – a slightly curious one, given Connor Budarick had done the job well in the past.
“It’s the wrong matchup, I think that’s obvious for everyone here to see,” he said during Fox Footy’s half-time coverage.
“Sellwood, unfortunately, is just too slow for Watson … I’d be really surprised if this didn’t change at half-time.
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“Sellwood’s a ball-watcher – he hasn’t played on a Nick Watson (type) before, you can’t go ball-watching … this will need to change.
“As he said at half-time, if you want to talk, you have to walk the walk – and unfortunately right now, Sellwood hasn’t walked the walk.”
But Sellwood lined up against Watson to start the second half, and he certainly walked the walk.
The 22-year-old, who was the last-minute hero against Collingwood last Saturday, kept Watson goalless with two touches in an admirable third-quarter resurgence.
And despite getting caught holding-the-ball deep in defence early in the last – which prompted Jack Ginnivan and other Hawks to get into him – he kept fighting as Watson’s impact waned.
Watson was stat-less, bar one tackle, in the last quarter.
Hawthorn entered Friday night first for intercept to score and first for half-back-to-score, and its punish was on full display in the first half – before going missing in the second.
The Hawks initially looked threatening every single time they won it back off the Dogs, particularly in the forward half, as they erupted for a 6.4 (40) second quarter built off a punitive forward-half game.
“Traces of the Hawks from a couple of years ago, when they really started going,” Hudson said.
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And they were led by Jai Newcombe, who had 23 disposals – 11 contested – four score involvements, four clearances and six intercepts by half-time.
“His intercept game has been strong, but in terms of the way he’s been using the ball, the way that he’s organised the stoppages and around the centre bounce has been a real leader-type game,” Lewis said at half-time.
“He’s had a huge influence with ball in hand, but what he’s done without the ball has been equally as important.”
Geelong champion Tom Hawkins added: “The way that he can just hold the ball and draw and get the Bulldogs players to commit … it then frees up teammates, and then he connects with ball in hand.”
Starkly, Newcombe became the eighth Hawk ever to record 20+ disposals, 10+ contested possessions and 4+ clearances in an opening half.
And he stepped up in a third term that the Dogs owned, stabilising in the midfield with nine more disposals, four inside-50s and three clearances.
The Hawks were without Jack Gunston, who’s leading the Coleman Medal, opening the door for Mabior Chol to fill the void with three goals – though he couldn’t quite snag a goal late when his side desperately needed one.
1. DOG CONCUSSED AS STAR NARROWLY AVOIDS SAME FATE
Already faced with an uphill battle against Hawthorn, the Bulldogs found themselves down one rotation by quarter-time.
At the start of the second quarter, Bulldogs forward Lachie McNeil was ruled out of the game with concussion.
It came after he attempted to lay a hit on Will Day, instead copping a face full of the Hawk’s shoulder before crumpling to the turf.
The small forward underwent an on-field head injury assessment before being taken downstairs at the first change for a SCAT5 concussion test.
McNeil’s issue came before Tim English worryingly copped a head knock on the eve of quarter-time.
In a case of friendly fire, skipper Marcus Bontempelli went straight through his ruckman at a contest to cause bleeding from his nose.
English made a cross-armed gesture to the interchange as he quickly made his way to the bench, with immediate concerns over the man who recently overcame a concussion.
“You could hear the smack, couldn’t you? He’s gone straight into the rooms. At this stage, it looks like a broken nose,” Jon Ralph reported on Fox Footy.
English entered Friday night with six career concussions.
Jason Dunstall added: “It would be tragic if Tim English has got himself another concussion – let’s hope it is just a broken nose.”
But with bandaging around his nose, English gallantly returned to the ruck in the second quarter.
On the Hawthorn side of things, Mitch Lewis was hampered by a right ankle injury after it was twisted in a first-quarter contest.
He played out the remainder of the game, albeit looking bothered by the issue throughout.