Interesting. I think that’s the best word to describe this game.
Based on ladder position and form, it should have been a walkover for the Bulldogs—and despite the scoreline, in many ways it kind of was. Yet for the third time in as many weeks, North found themselves in the hunt right up until the final few minutes.
Was it a case of the Bulldog’s inaccuracy and (let’s be honest here) laziness that allowed the cellar-dwelling Kangaroos back into the match, or was it a case of the Shinboner Spirit™ flickering within some of the side giving the team a bit of belief?
Time will tell, but for this week the Bulldogs take a much needed win to keep the top eight within striking distance, while the Kangaroos are left to find the positives from another ‘honourable loss’.
Lead up
Hot and cold probably sums up the Bulldogs so far in 2024. They were outclassed against Sydney and Brisbane in recent weeks, yet they beat the reigning premiers and gave Freo a hiding in the last month too.
The Dogs have some fantastic young talent, with Sanders and Darcy in particular looking like players that will have long and rewarding careers, and they’re supported by an exceptional midfield, led by the man many are claiming to be the best player in the league at the moment in Bontempelli, and supported by Libatore and Treloar who bring hardness and class respectively. Capped off with a top-level ruck, solid ball use out of defence and a decent attack, it seems like all they need to be a premiership chance is a bit of goal-kicking practice.
Yet going into this game, they didn’t seem to approach it as a percentage-boosting opportunity, but seemed almost… wary?
For North, they’ve been buoyed by a recent surge in form which has come from dramatically improving their accountability when not in possession. The willingness of players to run and chase to put pressure on opposition players has gone from utterly nothing to a respectable level since the bye.
And yet, they still haven’t been able to convert this into wins when it mattered against Collingwood and Melbourne, with both games benign decided by less than a kick.
There can be no doubt that this side has improved on what they were putting out earlier in the season, and that improvement has created a sort of confidence in the club, especially in the younger brigade like Paul Curtis, Harry Sheezel, Curtis Taylor and George Wardlaw. Yet that confidence seems a tad brittle, and continued losses may see them fall into old habits.
The Bulldogs have taken the four points in all of the last five match-ups. Weightman, in particular, seems to relish the chance to play the Kangaroos, kicking six in round 14 last year, five in the round five match up in 2022, and four in their round 16 match in 2021 (Just a few months after Josh Bruce kicked 10 against the roos in their Good Friday clash of the same year).
And yet, despite the dominance and the losses handed out to North in their only marquee match, there doesn’t seem to be a rivalry there. The Bulldogs dish out a hurting on the scoreboard, and the Kangas just kind of grin and bear it.
Ins and outs
North were forced to leave exciting midfielder George Wardlaw on the sidelines following a head knock in training that had him enter concussion protocols. He’s quickly become a key driver in their engine room, so while they would miss his presence, taking the long-term outlook with him is certainly in their best interests. Kallan Dawson came in as a replacement, but rather than play as a key defender as he usually does, he started up forward to aid Larkey and Teakle, leaving Comben and Pink to anchor the defensive line.
For the Dogs, there were initially some concerns regarding Bontempelli’s fitness, but he declared himself fit to play. He did look proppy at times, so the decision to risk him in a game where the Bulldogs should have son comfortably seemed unnecessary, but without him they might have had a lot more trouble dealing with the North midfield, so who can say?
Khamis, Daniel and Scott were all omitted, making way for Naughton, Darcy and Baker. Naughton and Darcy were always going to come straight in after Aaron’s knee concern was cleared, and Darcy served his suspension, so it’s not a surprise to see Khamis and Scott heading back down to the VFL.
The start
The opening moments were really indicative of the game as a whole. Xerri’s strong ruck work allowed Simpkin to get the ball, but the Bulldogs pressure forced a turnover, driving the Bulldogs into attack, only for the forward 50 entry to be a little off, making the attempt to score more difficult than it needed to be.
That kind of summed up the whole game. North putting in a load of effort, but having their forward thrusts cut short by the Bulldog’s pressure, then the Bulldogs butchering the scoring attempt.
With goals to the returning Naughton and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan on the board before North bothered the scorer, the Kangaroos showed the difference between their post-bye attitude and that of earlier in the season by… well, by playing football rather than deciding to just go through the motions.
They withstood the Bulldog’s constant attack, which was let down by poor finishing. I’d like to give North’s improved defence some credit for this, and some of that is deserved, but in truth the dogs missed some very gettable shots that would have seen players dreading Monday if they hadn’t gotten up.
The moment
While North came back in the first quarter, the Bulldogs ground out a handy lead in the second. The most interesting moment in the game wasn’t really a single event, but actually most of the third quarter.
North have been horrendous in third quarters all year. Even with their improved form since the bye, North’s inability to stop opposing teams once they get a run on has seen them lose winnable games against Melbourne and Collingwood, while just holding on against a fast-finishing Eagles side.
So while they still lost the third, it was only 5.2 to 3.2, and they actually managed to turn it around and gain some of their own momentum later in the period.
For the Dogs, they did their job all day of keeping the pressure up and just chipping away at North’s ability to transition. If I had to pick one moment it would have been early in the last when North started to build some momentum, surged forward to find Nick Larkey on the lead, only for it to be cut off by Liam Jones. It wasn’t his first intercept of the night, but it was one that really cut into North’s ability to keep attacking mindset as they were forced to rush back into defence while the Bulldogs took every second they could to move the ball on.
The finish
The last quarter had North outscore the dogs 3.3 to 1.1. The decision to prioritise defence over sealing the game was an odd one, but it worked well enough in the end. Wins don’t always have to be pretty, and the ability to grind out the four points even when things aren’t going your way speaks to a culture of belief at the Bulldogs.
There is a quote from Aussie Formula 1 racing driver Jack Brabham where he says the perfect win is where you win by the smallest margin possible. It’s the least amount of effort and wear on everyone involved. That’s what the Bulldogs achieved here. They cruised through without taking too many unnecessary risks.
Ruck contest
There have been many people pointing to Tim English as the heir apparent to the ruck crown currently in the hands of Max Gawn. His mobility, ruck craft and ability to bring his midfield into the game is excellent, and his reputation is well deserved.
But he was pantsed by Xerri here.
By every metric that matters, Xerri had English’s number. More hit outs, and more of them to the advantage of his mids. More disposals, more clearances, more intercepts, more tackes, more contested marks, even more goals. In fact, the only meaningful stats that English could claim victory in were uncontested possessions and frees for.
The stats don’t always tell the full story, but in this case it cements the fact that Xerri had a lot more influence on the game than English, though in Tim’s defence, he adjusted his style to take a more negating ruck role than that of a playmaking big man. Rather than try and take Xerri on directly, he changed his angles to force body contact early, meaning Xerri had to be aware of where English was going to be, anticipate the contact and try to work out how he could still tap the ball to his players.
It didn’t totally stop Xerri’s ability to find his teammates, but it denied Tristan’s mids the chance to hit the tapped ball at pace and take advantage of the vital two-metre gap on the chasing opponent.
Ruckmen have a reputation for having an intelligence inversely proportionate to their height, but English’s change in tactics was very shrewd, and shows that he was willing to prioritise team success over personal desires. No one wants to give an inch at the AFL level, especially in a speciality positon like ruck. Xerri won the battle, but I’d say English won the war.
Still giving Xerri the crown on his performance though.
Midfield battle
On current form, you’d be hard-pressed to find a midfielder with more weapons than Marcus Bontempelli. Despite being off his best with what looked like back issues, he was once again instrumental in this win. His forward 50 entries game his teammates lace-out silver service that few in the league could match on their best day.
So it was with a little surprise that North used their recently unearthed tagger Will Phillips on Treloar.
Granted, Phillips doesn’t have the size to run with the Bont, and Treloar is certainly no slouch as far as impactful midfielders go, but in this Bulldogs unit, he tends to be the link man rather than the playmaker. Whether it was a result of the tag or part of the initial plan, Treloar spent a lot of time as a high half-forward, and was very dangerous when the ball was coming in off the foot of the Bulldogs midfielders, finishing with two goals one from 22 touches, but when he was beyond range he was surgical with his passing to set up a teammate.
Tom Libatore played his role perfectly as well, getting in and under at the coal face with regularity, and bringing his own brand of ruthlessness as he carved his way through North’s midfield opposition.
North’s midfield by contrast struggled to find space to break lines. Davies-Uniacke and Simpkin were both pinged at times in the match when they couldn’t break through tackles, and LDU didn’t look on his game in his 100th outing.
While Bont, Richards and Libba all combined for 81 touches, North’s first-string mids of Simpkin, LDU and Sheezel only had 65, with far less metres gained and less ability to move the ball to the outside to find open teammates.
The Bullldogs won the midfield battle easily here.
Forward craft
There were some really interesting forward craft moments in the match. For the Dogs, much has already been said about Weightman’s ability to draw a free kick. Now, I’m all for scrutiny being placed on forwards looking for easy frees, and I’m yet to see any forward put their hand up and tell the ump that they don’t deserve one in any match, at any grade. I don’t like seeing it, but I hate seeing the excuses from defenders even more.
Weightman has dominated North in the last few matches, with bags of six, five, four and two in the last four outings, to go with his three today. Yes, around half of those have come from high-contact free kicks, but any defender worth his calloused elbows should be putting time into watching their opposition tapes, and understand that this is the way he plays.
You can’t complain when a forward uses the exact tactic you expect them to use, and you keep falling for it. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me every time since 2020 and it’s a ‘you’ problem.
It did seem to frustrate the North defence, with Glenn Jackson Archer showing his displeasure at regular intervals. It looked like he realised that Weightman was going to draw the frees, so he fell back on the tried-and-true tactic of backmen of yesteryear; make ‘em earn it.
To his credit, Archer kept it just shy of the sort of action that would get the umpire reaching for his notepad rather than his whistle, but he was still suckered in far too often. He’ll learn from it though, and as he puts on a bit more muscle, I’ll back him to become a linch pin in North’s defence.
For North, their forward craft was simple, yet effective. Kick it to the big bloke on a lead, and have a medium forward hitting the drop of the ball at pace. That’s it. But, that’s all that you need, and it’s been missing for the last few years. The first two goals from the Kangas were from exactly this, with Curtis and Zurhaar collecting the crumbs from a spoil forward and converting from the snap. It’s bread-and-butter forward craft, but it’s good to see North execute it well enough, which is sad to say when it’s really the sort of thing that should be second nature to attacking sixes by the time players make it past high school.
Decision time
I have no doubt that with the number of contentious umpiring decisions in this and some other games, the AFL will once again be issuing some clarifications or justifications on why the decision was either correct or technically correct.
They shouldn’t bother.
At the moment, it’s coming across to many as just a way to seem like they’re being transparent, rather than actually keeping everyone accountable. It’s making things worse rather than better, especially when once something is ticked off, that interpretation becomes the expectation for fans and teams in the coming weeks.
Yet, we’ve seen holding the ball rules fluctuate dramatically. A few weeks back, a single step without effecting a disposal was counted as HTB. Now we’re seeing players go through a spin cycle, taken to the ground and no whistle blown.
The rules are vague and up to interpretation. There’s no way around that, so it comes down to the umpires themselves to create the one thing everyone in the sport wants; consistency.
Rather than the rulebook being the top authority, the umpiring panel as a whole needs to get on the same page on how they interpret the rules. It shouldn’t matter who is picked every week to officiate, the interpretation should be as close as possible, and that sort of cohesion can’t be mandated from above. Like any team, it has to come from within the ranks.
It’s a very difficult job, no arguments about that, and umps cop a crazy amount of flack, even when they are 100% correct. It should also be said that overall, I think they get it right more often than not. If Champion kept a decision efficiency stat, I think they’d be ranking in the high 70% area at least. But at the moment there seems to be too much variation between individuals that’s leading to frustration from all concerned.
The umpires can never please everyone, but I do think some work needs to be done to help them be consistent across the round, and throughout the season. A call made one minute into the first round should be the same one made with a minute to go in the Grand Final.
Leave the rule changes for the off season.
Next up
Next Saturday, North face a real litmus test of a game when they take on Gold Coast at Marvel. In their last outing in Darwin in round nine, the Suns gave North an eleven goal belting and ran the young side ragged. North’s improved form will see them hoping they can emulate their round 24 win from last year in Hobart, but this isn’t a Gold Coast side cruising into Mad Monday, they’re just two points and percentage out of the eight and looking for their first successful finals campaign.
The Gold Coast need this win, and they need it to be a big one, so expect them to come out firing, yet the Kangaroos are desperate to get value for their recent effort, lest it turn into yet another ‘honourable loss’.
After coming off a win against Collingwood, the Suns will be brimming with confidence and ready to put North to the sword, but Gold Coast have a bit of a habit of falling down just when they seem to have it all going their way.
The smart money will be on the Suns, but I’ll tip an upset here. North by 2.
The Western Bulldogs will head to Adelaide Oval to see if they can knock off a Port Adelaide side desperate to show that they deserve their spot in the eight. The Power’s win against the Saints didn’t do much to silence the growing dissatisfaction with Ken Hinkley after their devastating loss to the Lions, so Port will want to put their stamp on the game and give the home crowd a reason to cheer rather than jeer.
Port will hope Todd Marshall can recover from a hamstring to take on the Bulldogs, because without his size, I think the Bulldogs will prove too strong, especially with Dixon still out from suspension.
Port will give everything they have, and they’ll be right in the match all night, but I’m on the Dogs here.
Western Bulldogs by 7.
