Round 17 – Western Bulldogs Vs Melbourne

Liam Chambers

After last week’s nail biter against Carlton, Melbourne were unable to cause an upset against the resurgent Bulldogs.

Jayden Hunt got the Dees off to a promising start with a goal in the opening five minutes. A repeat of last week’s hat trick was anticipated. However the Dogs looked in ominous form early on; scoring three goals in succession. A late flurry from Melbourne helped redress the balance. Jordan Lewis (fantastic opportunistic soccer kick) plus a splendidly chaotic goal from Christian Petracca kept the Dees within a point of their opponents at quarter time.

The Dogs extended their lead early in the second quarter with back to back goals from Sam Lloyd. An injured Angus Brayshaw and Jay Lockhart added to the Demons woes. Luckily it wasn’t too serious for either and both youngsters returned to the field.

Finally Harrison Petty got one back for the Dees, showing skill and nerve in front of goal to kick his first six pointer. Later Kyle Dunkley, playing against his brother Josh also kicked his first goal. Petty snagged a second goal in an even scoring quarter a few minutes before Josh Dunkley got one back for the Dogs.

The second half was an exercise in frustration for the Bulldogs and one of immense relief for Melbourne. The Dogs kicked six minor scores in a row before Harrison Petty recorded his third goal of the afternoon against the run of play.

Lack of efficiency in front of goal was a major concern for the Bulldogs but lack of scoring positions was also a worry for Melbourne. Good defensive play from Stephen May and Christian Salem got the Dees out of some sticky situations and help prevent further opportunities for the Dogs.

The last quarter saw Melbourne trailing the Bulldogs by a single goal. A much better position than both teams’ recent form would have predicted at the start of the game. An interesting statistic involves Melbourne’s fourth quarter performances. We have won just five fourth quarters from the previous sixteen rounds. Whether this has had an adverse psychological effect on the Dees is hard to say but it wouldn’t be a confidence booster.

Still when Bayley Fritsch’s early goal set the score to fifty five all, it gave hope to the faithful. A behind for Christian Petracca gave Melbourne the slimmest of advantages. Unfortunately, the next three goals all came from the Dogs. Then goals from Stephen May and Bayley Fritsch put us back in touch.

A nice run of play then saw Fritsch mark the ball to potentially put the Dees just two points behind the Bulldogs. Inexplicably he kicked it immediately only to see it sail wide for a minor score. It was so fast, the cameraman missed it. Normally Bayley is Mr Calm but the tension was affecting everyone. After that the Dogs hung on to take the game by eight points.

All in all Melbourne performed as well as we could have expected considering the season so far and how promising the Bulldogs have looked over the past month. However, you can’t help but feel an upset victory slipped from our grasp in the last five minutes of the game.

Next week we face the West Coast Eagles at Traeger Park in Alice Springs. We played exceptionally well against them in Perth in Round Nine but were overcome in the final quarter (familiar story). If we can exact revenge in the Alice next Sunday, then it will be one of the highlights of our season.

Go the Mighty Dees!!!

WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.3 6.5 7.13 10.14 (74)
MELBOURNE 3.2 6.4 7.7 9.12 (66)
GOALS
Western Bulldogs: J.Dunkley 2, Lloyd 2, R.Smith 2, Richards, Schache, Hunter, B.Smith
Melbourne: Petty 3, Fritsch 2, Hunt, Lewis, Petracca, K.Dunkley
BEST
Western Bulldogs: Dunkley, Hunter, Duryea, Macrae, Lloyd, Bontempelli
Melbourne: Gawn, Viney, Salem, May, Petty, Harmes