Rivalries are something that people frequently discuss. Usually, it’s between teams that are pretty much next door to each other (except maybe West Coast and Sydney), but the Giants and the Dogs have had a bit of a grudge against each other for a while now, and it’s been built up over a period of time.
The Bulldogs have had the better of GWS in recent years, so the Giants would have liked to peg that back a bit, and initially they looked good to deliver. For the better part of two quarters, Greater Western Sydney had everything under control. But after halftime, the Western Bulldogs unleashed a ferocious brand of football, dismantling the Giants’ structure and coming home strong to take the game by 32 points at Manuka Oval,
A second-half domination saw the Dogs outscore GWS by 51 points, taking some of the pressure off the under-siege Bulldogs outfit, and leaving the Giants wondering how it all fell apart so quickly.
Last 5
Recent history favours the Bulldogs, with an average points advantage to the Dogs of just under 16 points.
- Round 24, 2024: Bulldogs by 37.
- Round 10, 2024: Bulldogs by 27.
- Round 20, 2023: GWS by 5.
- Round 8, 2023: Bulldogs by 15.
- Round 22, 2023: Bulldogs by 5.
The last encounter in Round 24 of 2024 had the Dogs running out with a six-goal win, but it needs to be said that it was a must-win game for the Bulldogs to participate in finals, while GWS had already locked in a top four berth, though a win may have given them a top two spot, so I doubt they’d have taken it too easy.
Ed Richards, Libba and the Bont were the heroes that day, and not much has changed in the meantime. GWS had a great return from Green, Kelly and Himmelberg, with Whitfield working his guts out in the match too.
Recent history suggested another tight tussle. For a while, it looked that way — until the Bulldogs hit the accelerator.
Ins and Outs
GWS Giants:
- In: Jesse Hogan
- Out: Callum M. Brown
GWS welcomed back spearhead Jesse Hogan after missing the trip to SA with calf tightness, taking the spot of Callum Brown. It’s a bit rough on Callum, but when the reigning Coleman medallist is good to go, someone has to drop out.
Western Bulldogs:
- In: Jedd Busslinger, Laitham Vandermeer, James Harmes
- Out: Liam Jones (omitted), Lachlan McNeil (injured), Sam Darcy (injured)
Sam Darcy’s knee made headlines last week, though he may not be out for as long as many feared, if early medical reports are true. Lachie McNeil has to work through a hamstring issue, while Liam Jones spends some time in the twos.
Laith Vandermeer and James Harmes come in after recovering from injuries, but the big news here is Jed Busslinger finally making his debut. After being taken at pick 13 in 2022, it’s taken him a while to break into the side, mostly due to the two shoulder injuries that required reconstructions. It makes sense for the Dogs to tread carefully with the lad, but after dominating last week in the VFL with 32 touches and eight marks, he’d made it hard for them to hold him out any longer, especially with Darcy going down. It’s probably not the way he’d have preferred to come into the side, but he certainly didn’t do his long-term chances any harm in this match.
The Opening
The Bulldogs were quick out of the gate, working hard in the middle with the Richards, Liberatore and Bontempelli all getting early hands on the ball. Some deft work by The Bont set up Kennedy for the first goal, but GWS were able to withstand the physicality of the Bulldog’s outfit to control the early play and create scoring opportunities.
GWS, to their credit, absorbed the early physicality and slowed the pace down with a deliberate mark-and-kick approach. Jake Riccardi provided the spark up forward with two first-quarter goals, helping the Giants take a six-point lead into quarter-time.
They suffered a blow late in the term though, when Lachie Whitfield limped off after an innocuous incident away from the contest. He returned with enough strapping to see Elastoplast bump five points on the ASX. He moved well enough, but how he pulls up next week will be the real story.
The second quarter was a scrappy, no-frills scrap that you’d only love if you appreciated good, honest desperation around the contest, which I happen to really enjoy.
The Bulldogs, led again by Liberatore, Bontempelli and Richards, scrapped and surged their way to a 13-point lead midway through the quarter.
Just when it looked like the Bulldogs might open the floodgates, Tom Green dug in at the coalface for GWS, steadying the ship and dragging his teammates back into the fight. Jesse Hogan and Toby Bedford both struck late, levelling the scores with less than two minutes to play.
Toby Greene then nearly stole the halftime momentum — but his soccered attempt clipped the post, giving GWS only a one-point lead that proved costly. After a careless ruck infringement by Kieren Briggs, Tim English calmly slotted a goal after the siren, swinging the lead back the Bulldogs’ way by five points at the main break.
The momentum swings
Third quarter scores: Bulldogs 5.3 goals to GWS 0.1.
It’s a damning line that shows where the game was won and lost.
When the halftime siren sounded, the scores were locked and the contest was very much alive, but by the eleven-minute mark, GWS looked gone for all money. While Bevo has copped a lot of flak recently, pushing Rory Lobb into attack alongside Buku Khamis and the ever-dangerous Aaron Naughton, gave GWS too much tall timber to cover, and James Harmes was the beneficiary, finishing the day with four goals.
After a first quarter of cautious chip-mark football, the Bulldogs trusted the longer kick, backed their talls to compete, and were rewarded handsomely. The predictability in ball movement allowed their midfielders to surge forward with confidence, their half-backs to get involved in chains, and their small forwards to set up shop at the fall of the ball.
The Bulldogs surge was built on relentless pressure and brutal efficiency at the contest. Two of their early goals came from intercepts in the defensive half — a zone from which they hadn’t scored at all in the first half — and the avalanche just kept coming. GWS worked hard to respond, but time and again they were forced into bad options as kicks into their forward half were delivered under pressure to a player with a defender right on them, resulting in only right inside 50s for the quarter, and only two that were able to be gathered by a teammate. A late point to Callan Ward was just enough to avoid a scoreless quarter.
As the final quarter started, GWS tried to rally, but the Bulldogs outfit was humming along beautifully. The Bulldogs’ midfield bullied the GWS on-ballers, winning clearances by six and post-clearance contested possessions by seven during the onslaught.
The dominance was so complete that Luke Beveridge had the luxury of tactically subbing out Marcus Bontempelli early in the last quarter, giving his captain a well-earned rest as he continues to build back to full fitness after his recent calf injury.
Lobb, in particular, was a difference-maker: he kicked two goals, crashed packs, and created spill after spill at ground level for the smaller Dogs to feast on. Even with Naughton largely blanketed by Sam Taylor, the Dogs’ new-look forward line found ways to stretch and break GWS’s highly rated back six.
While the heavy conditions made clean ball-handling difficult for many, James Harmes looked like he was playing with dry-weather footy. He constantly found himself at the fall of the ball, providing crucial impact in the air and on the deck.
By the time GWS finally kicked their first goal of the second half — a full 12 minutes into the last quarter — the game was well and truly cooked. The scoreboard will show that GWS kicked five goals to the Bulldog’s four in the final term, but the Bulldogs knew they had the game in hand and had taken the foot off the gas.
Still, running the game out as they did reflects well on the discipline the Giants had on the day.
Controversial Moment
There were a couple, and the home side was on the end of both of them.
Midway through the second term, with both sides piling on the pressure, Freijah picked the ball up from the deck in a scramble and gave it a quick flick to West, who was able to goal. Watching the vision, it looked like a textbook scoop throw that wouldn’t have been out of place in a game of cornhole, and should have been called as such.
But, it’s a hard call to make. A tap is allowed, but a scoop isn’t, with the only real difference being how long the hand is in contact with the ball. It’s understandable.
The other came midway through the third quarter, with debutante Jedd Busslinger nudging the ball across the boundary under pressure. The GWS faithful roared for a deliberate out-of-bounds call — but the umpire waved play on.
The Dogs scored moments later, rubbing salt into the wound and further swinging momentum.
Again, an understandable call. Deliberate out of bounds is always a murky one because everyone who’s ever strapped on a pair of boots knows that players regularly aim to make the ball tumble over the boundary line, it’s just that sometimes the ump thinks you’ve at least made an obligatory attempt, other times they’re like a demanding ex, feeling that you could have done more at the time.
I know lots of teams are big on cross-training in the preseason, with players learning everything from wrestling and boxing to hurdles and water polo, but I wonder if a team might benefit from a three-week intensive with NIDA to get their acting game sorted? They’d be able to make their attempts at keeping the ball in play seem like a Shakespearean tragedy, and the celebrations of a goal marked with a quick interpretive dance. I think it might work out well for 2026. For some reason, I can see Libba spending his retirement becoming an accomplished mime. No idea why.
Ruck Battle
For the first half, Keiren Briggs and Jake Ricciardi did an excellent job of matching up with Tim English. Their shoulder-to-shoulder work was great, and both managed to get the ball around the ground.
The third quarter gave English the match though, as he asserted his dominance and bullied his way through the ruck duels. He just looked more at home as he rucked against either player. While Briggs gave him the most trouble, Ricciardi was more than handy taking the taps around the ground.
It’s not often these days that teams split ruck duties quite so evenly, with Briggs attending 59 ruck contests and Ricciardi 44 (English had 86), so it’s an interesting tactical option, especially with Ricciardi so damaging with his long boot near goal.
Still, the nod goes to English here.
The Stats That Sting
- The Giants only managed 45 inside 50s to the Bulldogs’ 60.
- Bulldogs won the clearances 55-33, and were especially dominant around the ground (37-21).
- GWS had 33 more marks than the Bulldogs, though most of that was chipping it around the back flank, looking to find a way through the Bulldogs’ press.
- Stringer’s 10 touches for 0.2 looks bad, especially with two frees against him, but he did manage a few good handballs to give teammates a scoring shot.
- Ed Richards only had 27 touches (4th most in the game), but had over 700 metres gained, 114 more than the next best in Josh Kelly.
- The pressure of the Bulldog’s midfield was immense, as evidenced by Greene, Green and Kelly combining for 18 clangers between them.
Next Up
GWS Giants face the Sydney Swans next week at the SCG in the Battle of the Bridge.
The Swans have been up and down, but so too have the Giants. On paper, 6th vs 14th should be an easy pick. Sydney are coming off their third straight loss after the Gold Coast gave them a tune-up, but the Swans can turn it up on occasion, and shouldn’t be written off.
It all comes down to whether GWS can get themselves right and avoid the three straight losses that would kill their momentum, as well as whether the tribunal throws the book at anyone.
Still, I’m tipping GWS to give their cross-town rivals their best, and run out winners.
GWS by 14.
The Western Bulldogs will head to Ballarat desperate to get a win over Port Adelaide. The power have won the last three match ups by an average of 28 points, and have become something of a bogey side for the Bulldogs. It could come down to who handles the conditions of Mars stadium better, as the smaller stands let in the cold, whirling Ballarat wind.
While the Bulldogs showed that they cantered into the end of the match, I have to go with Port here. While their match against North was close in the end, they never really looked like losing it and barely got out of second gear, so they’ll have plenty of petrol in the tank.
Port by 9.
