Round 14
Western Bulldogs vs Adelaide Crows
Thursday, June 11th
Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
The Adelaide Crows have continued on their strong recent run of form after an explosive first quarter destroyed the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Thursday Night, winning, 19.7 (121) to 9.10 (64).
The Crows came out of the blocks firing kicking nine first quarter goals to the Dogs two, leaving the host stunned as to what was unfolding in front of their eyes.
The Dogs had no answer to the Crows midfield brigade as the ball was seemingly walked out of the middle on several occasions, giving Riley Thilthorpe and co a plethora of footy to get their hands on up forward. When they weren’t winning it out of the middle, Matthew Nicks men showed clear intent to pressure as a forward unit to allow their defensives system to set up, giving the Dogs no time to find an out in any situation.
Inspirational skipper Jordan Dawson again proved that he is a class above kicking three first quarter goals in an excellent performance finishing with 32 disposals, his ball use was superb, often seeing the game unfold two steps ahead of everyone else, claiming his stakes as a Brownlow medal contender.
Dawson was joined by live-wire forward Josh Rachele who relished some minutes further up the field in the absence of Izaak Rankine, booting four majors to go along with his 16 disposals in what was a very tidy performance from the Crows young gun.
On a night where positives were hard to come by for Luke Beveridge’s men, Cody Weightman continued his comeback story by saluting for his first goal back, whilst Marcus Bontempelli was gallant in defeat finishing with 29 disposals, whilst Ed Richards managed 28 disposals and a goal in a tough night for the Pups.
What was impressive from the Crows was their ability to win clearance all evening, supposedly having some of the lesser names in terms of star on ballers in the competition, it was James Peatling and Sam Berry who ultimately led the way for their side, being brutal forces inside the contest, and on times able to bring it to the outside on their own accord, an impressive performance from the midfield pairing.
Adelaide with the game wrapped up by quarter time looked to different advantage points for the rest of the evening, with Thilthorpe featuring in the center bounce at times to allow Dawson to be a threat as a deep forward, potentially something to look out for as September starts to inch closer.
The Dogs will be made to reflect on their slow start on Thursday evening as they turn their attention to the Saints at Marvel Stadium on Sunday afternoon, whilst the Crows will look to continue their strong form against the Demons in Adelaide on Saturday.
A Dogs Observation
Where do you start with the Dogs disaster on Thursday? Was it the candy cane jersey? Probably not, however it produced a very similar result to that of when they wore it last in 2003.
Slow starts are common in football, on Thursday that was something different by the Dogs, a lack of accountability, willingness to chase and at times some really poor decisions with the footy given the match scenario was extremely disappointing and again highlighted that the difference between our best and worst is yet again too far apart.
Our ball movement was slow, vulnerable and not measured when you consider how the Adelaide Backmen were setting up, and to their credit, the Crows probably would have beaten every team the way they punished the Dogs however we simply had to be much better.
We showed glimpses of our last month of form in the second quarter however trying to bridge the seven-goal margin against a scintillating Crows attack was always going to be an uphill battle.
Rory Lobb was moved to defense in the second term, unfortunately it was too late, I would expect Rory to be starting in defense on Saturday with English back to full time ruck duties, and in terms of a second ruck, mid-season recruit Caleb May could be considered, and in my opinion would be valuable as a fifth man on the bench during the non-English minutes, just to quell any influence of the opposing teams second ruck, in which will be challenged this week against De Koning and Marshall.
How the Dogs tighten the gap on their best and worst performances is something that the coaches will need to get to work on, however it is a dangerous game to play particularly heading into finals where we have all seen before, you can put together a brilliant spell of form, and not have your night like we did against the Hawks in the elimination final in 2024, we will definitely need to work out how to stem the bleeding more efficiently on the occasions where we don’t start the way we need to.
Malarkey Votes
3 VOTES – Jordan Dawson
2 VOTES – Sam Berry
1 VOTE – Josh Rachele
WESTERN BULLDOGS 2.3 5.5 8.7 9.10 (64)
ADELAIDE 9.2 12.3 16.4 19.7 (121)
GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Naughton 2, Jones 2, West, Weightman, Richards, Hynes, Freijah
Adelaide: Rachele 4, Thilthorpe 3, Dawson 3, Taylor 2, Pedlar 2, T.Murray, Milera, Keays, Fogarty, Cook
BEST
Western Bulldogs: Richards, Naughton, Bontempelli, Jones, Sanders
Adelaide: Dawson, Berry, Rachele, Thilthorpe, Keays, Laird
INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Nil
Adelaide: Pedlar (hamstring)
Crowd: 22,761 at Marvel Stadium
Third year Media and Communications student at La Trobe University, exploring the many modes of writing, commentating and editing through my passion of sport, particularly AFL as a passionate Western Bulldogs fan.
Leave a Comment