WESTERN BULLDOGS 1.3 5.5 7.10 14.12 (96) NORTH MELBOURNE 1.5 3.8 5.11 10.13 (73)
GOALS Western Bulldogs: Johannissen 2, Honeychurch 2, Biggs 2, Crameri 2, Dickson 2, Roughead, Stringer, Picken, Bontempelli. North Melbourne: Petrie 3, Waite 3, Higgins 3, Harvey.
BEST Western Bulldogs: Hunter, Bontempelli, Wallis, Dahlhaus, Macrae, Stringer, Morris, Boyd. North Melbourne: Goldstein, Tarrant, Swallow, Petrie, Harvey, Macmillan, Atley.
UMPIRES Dalgleish, Findlay, Rosebury.
CROWD 37,299 at Etihad Stadium.
This was a game played by two teams who may meet again in a fortnight with much more on the line, and it showed. The Western Bulldogs won it by 23, yet it was the notes in the margin rather than the bottom line that will draw greater reflection.
Two of the competition's most attacking teams conjured just 12 goals between them in three quarters, fuelling suspicion that neither wanted to show their hand too early. Yet surely you don't hold something back when slipping up could result in a journey to Adelaide in the first week of the finals.
The last term produced a more heartening brand of football and another dozen goals, seven of them to the victors, the first 10 from either side without blemish before Stewart Crameri's kick at full tilt skidded wide. By then Jake Stringer was making opponents look inert, the Dogs were four goals clear, closing in on a home final, and again breathing down Sydney's neck in pursuit of a double chance.
Were the game a book, the Kangaroos' perceived edge leapt off the very first page where Todd Goldstein rucked against a key defender (Jordan Roughead) and a full-forward (Jack Redpath). Everywhere the Bulldogs looked, it seemed they were looking up.
Goldstein had a whopping 54 hitouts yet Roughead, in his first game in six weeks, stuck manfully to his tall order; the Dogs lost the taps but won the clearances handsomely. Marcus Bontempelli shook off Ben Jacobs to play some jaw-dropping football, Lachie Hunter continued his ball-hogging stretch, and Luke Dahlhaus, Mitch Wallis, Matthew Boyd and Jack Macrae were powerful cogs in a machine that kicked into gear when it needed to.
Drew Petrie's pack mark for the first goal of the game after a dozen minutes of prod-and-poke hinted that height would be an issue for the Dogs at more than just the stoppages; Robbie Tarrant took five intercept marks in the first 23 minutes, Petrie sat on Roughead's head on the wing, and Ben Brown seemed an ominous figure alongside Dale Morris.
The Bulldogs countered the accepted wisdom that a six-day break off a Perth trip would spell fatigue by introducing six pairs of fresh legs, but it was soon evident that to use them they'd have to somehow get the ball out of the air and down onto the ground. The first quarter yielded only a goal apiece, but betrayed the onus on the Dogs to be smart or be swamped.
The latter seemed the more likely outcome as Brent Harvey ran on to a clever Ben Jacobs kick and Petrie cruised in for another mark and goal. The sense that their last assignment had been taxing was fuelled by the Dogs fastest duo, Jason Johannisen and Dahlhaus, being run down, the latter by 37-year-old 405-gamer Harvey.
Fast minds can accelerate ball movement, and Bontempelli and Mitch Honeychurch made productive leads for goals that kept their team in touch in a dreary first half.
Macrae's mouthwatering kick to Tory Dickson on a rare fast break gave the Bulldogs the lead, and from the restart Bontempelli, his influence rising, ushered the ball forward, slick work by hand freed Stringer, and his 50th goal of the season produced a fourth goal in a row for welcome – and a little unlikely – half-time breathing space.
The Roos had the first four inside 50s of the second half for a return of four boundary throw-ins and a couple of ball-ups. As tends to happen, the Bulldogs goaled the first time they went forward after Johannisen ran hard and jumped sweetly onto Ben Cunnington's back.
Shaun Higgins, hitherto unable to prompt many boos from his old team's faithful, found the space he cherishes for the Roos' first in almost a quarter and Jarrad Waite presented and finished coolly from long range to close the gap to less than a kick.
North started the last with a bang as the exciting Taylor Garner mowed down Bob Murphy in the middle of the ground and Higgins relished finishing the move under the noses of the Bulldogs' cheer squad.
They weren't snarling for long, a couple on the run from Shane Biggs icing a cake that presented better than it had seemed in the making.
