There was a big gap in class and talent between the Dogs and Tigers at Marvel Stadium in Round 15.
We’re getting to that point of the year, where young legs start to feel a little heavy, and the Tigers have plenty of young legs. The Dogs… well, their legs are working juuuuust fine, and they ran all over Richmond to record a 79-point victory, as a result.
It’s a funny thing when you watch a team that is expected to win start to flex their muscles. Everyone on the park starts to look dangerous when the footy goes into their area. Sure, players like Marcus Bontempelli, Sam Darcy, and Rhylee West always look dangerous, but when players like Cooper Hynes, Joel Freijah, Sam Davidson, and Lachie McNeil start looking like they’ll have a big say in proceedings, you come to understand just how much better, as a unit, this Western Bulldogs team was.
In contrast, the Tigers limped through the first half, looking more like a team a trying to survive, than a team attempting to win. Players went into “save my skin” mode, and little efforts that would usually start a chain of possessions missed the target and came back with interest.
There were moments for the Tigers, and there is hope – there is always hope – but I believe we are now also seeing who will be there when this team starts to rise again, and who won’t be.
In the end, this was a game pitting the “haves” of the current AFL climate, against the “have nots”, and the scoreline reflected that.
Time to jump into The Mongrel’s Big Statements from the Doggies’ win at Marvel.
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