Round 15
St Kilda vs Western Bulldogs
Sunday, June 21st
Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
The Western Bulldogs have moved to a 9-6 record following a 22-point victory over the Saints at Marvel Stadium on Sunday afternoon, however, wasn’t without its challenges ultimately prevailing late in the final term, winning 12.11 (83) to 8.13 (61).
Marcus Bontempelli simply starred for his men, the AFL world is starting to run out of superlatives for this guy, he amassed 34 disposals, 13 clearances and kicking one major. Bontempelli by all means didn’t have a significant start to the game, however soon stamped his authority by having 29 disposals in the next three quarters alone. He was joined by old dog Tom Liberatore who still has the same tricks, compiling a tidy return from injury whilst Bailey Dale and Matt Kennedy enjoyed plenty of the Sherrin in what seemed like a game of kick to kick at times.
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was everywhere for Ross Lyons men, racking up 44 disposals across half back, which begs the question as to why he wasn’t injected into the midfield when they needed a bit of class after half time and not so late into the crunch minutes of the final term. Cal Wilkie was arguably the Saints best (26 disposals, 14 marks and nine intercepts) however wasn’t enough. Along with him was Brad Hill, Hugo Garcia and Marcus Windhager who all enjoyed 30+ disposals each in a possessive style of play for the Saints.
The Dogs started red hot after an extremely sluggish first quarter last week against the Crows. They kicked the first three goals of the game, two of those coming from Will Lewis who looked to be on for a breakout performance however his influence was quelled very shortly afterwards. Luke Kennedy enjoyed a moment in his second game kicking his first career goal as it looked to be the Dogs in one of those scoring moods which the Saints have been on the receiving end in past seasons.
To the Saints credit, they tightened defensively, ultimately setting up an arm-wrestle on the scoreboard. There was a plethora of uncontested possessions from the St Kilda backline who attempted to keep the ball away from the Doggies prolific users however it simply allowed for numbers to drop back and support the arial contest in the defensive half of the ground for Luke Beveridges men.
The Saints seemingly wasting their opportunities given how much of the ball they had, totaling 61 inside 50s however only going at 44.3% in their scoring quarters which is well below the AFL average, compared to the Dogs who quiet simply made the most of their supply, only having 45 inside 50s which is very unlike them however going at 57.8% in the forward half, which was ultimately the difference in a tightly held game of football.
The Dogs now move into the bye sitting seventh on the table and percentage out of the top six, whilst the Saints struggle to gel continues as they sit just outside the wildcard spot in 12th and will have to deal with the injury loss of star half back Jack Sinclair and highly promised recruit Tom De Koning over the bye as well.
A Dogs Observation
Before I get into the positives, I think I can speak on behalf of majority of Bulldog fans to the sense of concern when we saw Marcus Bontempelli take 10 ruck contests on Sunday afternoon. He wasn’t alone as Matt Kennedy and Joel Freijah both had turns around the ground. What made it even more baffling was when Tim English and Rory Lobb were both resting forward, the adjustment seemed to have been made following half time however it made for interesting half of football, it was a clear tactical ploy from Beveridge who has had some luck in the past exploiting similar situations in attempt to give the boys a stronger advantage at the stoppages. A throwback to the Josh Dunkley days in the ruck you could suggest.
Our heavily criticized backline performed really well on Sunday, I thought Buku Khamis was particularly important quelling the influence of the inform Liam Ryan, an important game for his confidence following a run of tough opponents. He was joined by Bailey Dale who is in scintillating form, again, being so vital for the drive out of our backline, another brilliant performance from Bailey who is leading this backline really well.
Cooper Hynes played one of his better games for the club on Sunday, finishing with 20 disposals and a goal, it seems that he has found his feet on the wing at AFL level and played a superb game. He worked hard all day and his pressure around the contest looks to be much improved, an enjoyable spell of form from Cooper.
Malarkey Votes
3 VOTES – Marcus Bontempelli
2 VOTES – Bailey Dale
1 VOTE – Callum Wilkie
ST KILDA 3.4 4.7 6.8 8.13 (61)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.2 7.5 8.10 12.11 (83)
GOALS
St Kilda: De Koning, Sharman, Higgins, Wilson, Wanganeen-Milera, Lake, Garcia, Byrnes
Western Bulldogs: Lewis 2, Lobb 2, Naughton 2, L.Kennedy, Hynes, Bontempelli, M.Kennedy, McNeil, Jones
BEST
St Kilda: Wanganeen-Milera, Silvagni, Windhager, Garcia, Wilkie, Hill
Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli, O’Donnell, Dale, Richards, Liberatore , Khamis
INJURIES
St Kilda: Sinclair (right calf), De Koning (ribs), Marshall (left shoulder)
Western Bulldogs: Nil
Crowd: 30,194 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.
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