Sometimes, you just have to wear the black hat. I mean, every story needs a villain, right?
It was supposed to be a fairytale for the Western Bulldogs. It was all set up, in front of the legends of their club, for them to run over the top of the Pies and claim a famous win, as the club celebrated their 100-year anniversary in the league. Things were going wrong for the Pies – Steele Sidebottom took a short step in the middle, and Lachie Schultz did the same moments later inside 50. All was pointing toward a Dogs win…
… and then Sidebottom said “no”.
Celebrating a milestone of his own (308 games played together with Scott Pendlebury), Sidebottom did not shrink in the moment a second time. Every time the Pies needed a pair of hands on the footy, it was Sidebottom there to win it. He had 12 of his 22 touches in the last quarter, as though he was determined to make amends for his indiscretion in the middle.
And he did. In the best possible way.
With the largest home-and-away crowd in Bulldog history watching along, Sidebottom, Nick Daicos, Darcy Cameron, and Lachie Schultz all had their own big moments to thwart the efforts of the desperate Dogs, turning the fairytale into a nightmare.
It had to be done. Some stories just are not meant to have happy endings. Sometimes, the bad guys win.
Let’s jump into The Mongrel’s Big Questions stemming from the Pies and Dogs at the MCG on Friday night.
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