Round 2 – Richmond v Bulldogs: Watch the memberships burn

I was watching from home in Sydney today from my sick-bed as the youngest daughter had passed on her dogs’ disease to me (no pun intended).

I was in heaven as the wife had taken the kids out. I had the GWS game on the big screen and watched this game on the iPad via the AFL app as it was infinitely more appealing than Giants v Demons.

Before the game started I was reflecting back to when I was growing up in the 80’s in Sydney and the footy coverage we used to get here. We used to do alright, we would always get the Channel 7 Saturday Match of the Day but Sydney’s never had it better than now, some weekends there are fivr free to air matches live.

I was really looking forward to this game as the Dogs looked really good last weekend against West Coast and the Tigers were just passable against Carlton. This pointed to a cracking contest in my mind and that’s how it turned out in the end.

The first quarter of the game started very poorly, both teams were struggling to execute their skills due to the extreme pressure of both defences. After about 10 minutes the young stars of Bontempelli (The Bont) and Stringer started to dominate and the Dogs should have been in front by more at quarter time but wayward kicking and Dustin Martin singlehandedly kept Richmond in the match.

The second quarter was much like the first but unlike the first quarter it wasn’t Martin that was keeping the Tigers in the match but the excellent defence of Alex Rance. To think he was a whipping boy a few years ago but if it wasn’t for him the Tigers would have been more down at half time.

In the third quarter the Tigers came hard at the Dogs but the Dogs responded and by the end of the quarter they dominated and the Richmond faithful let their displeasure known at the last break. Specifically they where getting towelled up by The Bont. If he keeps up this run of form in my opinion he will be a smokey for the Brownlow. Tonight he was paying $67 to win and in the morning I will be heading down to the TAB to place a lazy $10 on him, just saying.

In the last quarter the Tigers threatened early again but the Dogs responded and they ran out very deserving winners in the end. According to Basil “useless trivia” Zempilas it was the first time the Dogs have won their first two games since 2009. Also, according to him the Dogs have not won the first three games in a row since 1951. Next week they have the Hawks, if they can beat them I may consider a cheeky look at the flag odds.

WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.5 5.8 10.13 12.13 (85) RICHMOND 2.3 3.6 6.8 9.12 (66)
Goals: Western Bulldogs: T Dickson 4, J Stringer 2, S Crameri 2, E Wood, J Grant, M Honeychurch, M Wallis. Richmond: J Riewoldt 2, B Griffiths, C Newman, D Grimes, D Martin, N Gordon, R Petterd, S Lloyd.
Umpires: McInerney, Bannister, Stephens.
Official Crowd: 49,945 at MCG.

 

About Gavin Ward

One of the rare born and raised Sydney spiders with a passion for AFL footy and all sport in general

Comments

  1. Neil Anderson says

    Yes , the commentary trivia can give you the shits sometime, but it’s amazing how you get over it quickly when you win. What a night!
    I was worried that everyone was talking about the Bont and putting too much pressure on him. I needn’t have worried. He seems to be thriving on it.
    Nice to hear Charlie Sutton’s name mentioned at least when they quoted that awful stat about the Dogs not winning the first three in a row since Charlie was captain.

  2. Neil Anderson says

    I meant to say what a day! My mistake was due to the rare match being played on a Saturday afternoon and the fact that I watched the replay last night.

  3. cowshedend says

    Hope the AFL don’t think the 50k at the Saturday arvo game is an indication thats what Dogs fans want.
    Hope North and the Dees are gunna share those Sunday twilight games around.

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