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Western Bulldogs vs Essendon

Scoreboard | Match report | Match statistics

Round: 18   Venue: Docklands   Date: Sun, 20-07-2014 4:40 pm   Crowd: 34,476  
Western Bulldogs 3.3.218.6.5412.8.8014.10.94 C:  Brendan McCartney
Essendon 4.2.267.5.4710.7.6715.11.101 C:  Mark Thompson
  ESS by 5WBULL by 7WBULL by 13ESS by 7  
Weather
min temp  7.9°C      max temp  13.7°C
rainfall  0mm    humidity  69%    air pressure  1026.5mb
wind speed 0km/h      wind direction  CALM
Brownlow Medal 3 Jake Carlisle (ESS)2 Jack Macrae (WBULL)1 Paddy Ryder (ESS)

Match Report

A magnificent last-quarter effort has seen Essendon come from behind to defeat the Western Bulldogs in a high-standard thrilling match at Docklands stadium on Sunday. These two sides met at the same venue in round seven, with the Dons also winning then in a close in encounter but that match 12 weeks ago - a low-scoring, dour affair - bore little resemblance to the free-flowing skill-laden match on Sunday.

Essendon made the early running in the match, with two goals to Jake Carlisle setting the scene for his day and allowing the Dons to take a three-goal-to-one lead at the 17-minute mark but late goals to Nathan Hrovat and Jack Macrae scored late goals to reduce the margin to five points at quarter time. Carlisle also kicked the first goal of the second term and when Travis Colyer kicked another at the six-minute mark, the Bombers led by 15 points and looked in control of the match. 

But the rest of the first half belonged to the Bulldogs. A Luke Dahlhaus tackle was rewarded with a free kick, which he converted and then Jake Stringer and Matthew Boyd also goal and the Dogs were suddenly two points head. Stringer added another before Carlisle kicked his fourth for the Dons but a mark and goal to third-gamer Jack Redpath saw the Bulldogs take a seven-point lead into the long break.

The Western Bulldogs continued to dominate early in the third term, kicking three of the first four goals (with Carlisle's fifth being the other) to jump out to a 21-point lead at the 14-minute mark. But the Dons limited the Bulldogs scoring opportunities late in the third quarter and Carlisle, playing a virtual loan hand on the forward line, kicked his sixth to see the Bombers within 13 points at the last change of ends.

Stringer opened the final term with a snapped goal - his fifth - and it looked as though this might be the Bulldogs' day. But Essendon, as has been the case several times in 2013 and 2014, refused to surrender. That man Carlisle kicked his seventh to reduce the margin to 14 points and the Dons began to take control. Behinds  to David Zaharakis and Paul Chapman were followed by majors to Chapman and Cory Dell'Olio and suddenly scores were level. Carlisle then kicked his eighth to give the Dons the lead but Marcus Bontempelli marked and goaled to square the match up once more. A behind to Carlisle gave Essendon a one-point lead before a mark in the goal square saw Jason Winderlich give the Bombers a seven-point lead. 

The Dogs attacked relentlessly in the final minutes but Essendon's defence stood firm and the Bombers held on for a courageous victory, one which sees them a game plus percentage clear of Gold Coast in the top eight (although the Suns have a game in hand).

Carlisle was clearly best on ground with his eight goals, while Winderlich (21 possessions and a goal) also played a fine game for the Bombers. For the Bulldogs, youngsters Jack Macrae (32 disposals and a goal) and Jake Stringer (five goals) showed that the Bulldogs' future is in good hands.

Essendon's next assignment is one of the toughest of all - Sydney at the SCG - while the Bulldogs' is arguably just as difficult - Hawthorn at York Park in Launceston.

GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Stringer 5; Dahlhaus, Bontempelli 2; Hrovat, Macrae, Boyd, Redpath, Crameri
Essendon: Carlisle 8; Ryder 2; Ambrose, Colyer, Chapman, Dell'Olio, Winderlich

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Western Bulldogs: Stringer, Macrae, Boyd, Wallis, Minson, Bontempelli, Murphy
Essendon: Carlisle, Hooker, Heppell, Ryder, Chapman, Hurley, Myers

BEST - THE AGE
Essendon:
Carlisle, Winderlich, Heppell, Chapman, Myers, Hooker, Ryder
Western Bulldogs: Macrae, Stringer, Dahlhaus, Boyd, Liberatore, Murphy

COACHES' COMMENTS
Brendan McCartney (WB): We were not stiff. They got up off the floor and fought their way back. You're not stiff when you look down the stats sheet and they win almost everything in the last 10 minutes. Full credit to them. Did we have enough opportunities to nail the game? Yes. But we were not stiff.
Mark Thompson (Ess): The players have won a very important game to go into the break with and they'll look forward to the end of the season. Without Jake Carlisle we would have been in a lot of trouble. He's been incredible, really. It's hard to give a definitive reason for him playing like this [over the past two games]. I think it's just been work.

INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Wallis (ankle)
Essendon: Hibberd (quad)

SUBSTITUTES
Western Bulldogs: Adam Cooney replaced Liam Picken in the third term
Essendon: Corey Dell'Olio replaced Ben Howlett in the third term

UMPIRES: Nicholls, Chamberlain, Ryan

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Sandy Roberts, Dwayne Russell, Gerard Healy, Jason Dunstall, David King

Source

Match Report by Andrew Gigacz

Footnotes

Video sourced from YouTube, courtesy of AFL Media.

Match stats

Western Bulldogs Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
47 Austin, Mark 9 5 3 12 0 0 0 1 3 1 25y 146d 39 2
4 Bontempelli, Marcus 8 8 5 13 2 1 1 3 0 0 18y 238d 11 9
5 Boyd, Matthew 9 3 13 22 1 1 0 1 0 1 31y 327d 234 80
17 Cooney, Adam 1 0 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 28y 293d 214 181
8 Crameri, Stewart 7 5 5 12 1 1 0 0 1 0 25y 344d 74 123
6 Dahlhaus, Luke 10 2 6 16 2 0 0 2 3 0 21y 333d 66 67
16 Griffen, Ryan 12 0 16 28 0 1 0 6 1 2 27y 358d 197 128
24 Hrovat, Nathan 9 2 8 17 1 0 0 1 1 0 20y 43d 15 7
26 Hunter, Lachie 12 5 5 17 0 1 0 2 1 1 19y 219d 20 13
39 Johannisen, Jason 14 6 7 21 0 0 0 6 0 0 21y 254d 23 4
21 Liberatore, Tom 8 2 12 20 0 0 0 5 2 0 22y 65d 72 16
11 Macrae, Jack 21 7 11 32 1 0 0 4 1 0 19y 351d 30 11
27 Minson, Will 8 2 3 11 0 0 33 4 1 4 29y 100d 175 76
38 Morris, Dale 9 5 5 14 0 0 0 6 0 2 31y 203d 188 3
2 Murphy, Bob 11 3 5 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 32y 41d 266 171
42 Picken, Liam 4 2 3 7 0 0 0 3 0 1 27y 353d 124 32
43 Redpath, Jack 3 3 3 6 1 0 5 0 0 0 23y 219d 3 2
23 Roughead, Jordan 8 3 6 14 0 0 0 1 0 1 23y 259d 68 12
25 Stevens, Koby 8 5 9 17 0 0 1 4 2 3 23y 32d 45 23
9 Stringer, Jake 7 1 3 10 5 0 0 0 0 0 20y 86d 23 27
3 Wallis, Mitch 3 0 15 18 0 0 0 2 1 1 21y 269d 56 15
10 Wood, Easton 3 1 6 9 0 0 0 5 0 0 24y 319d 64 7
  Rushed   5  
  Totals 184 70 152 336 14 10 40 56 17 18 24y 237d 2007 1009
Essendon Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
47 Ambrose, Patrick 2 0 2 4 1 0 0 4 1 1 22y 322d 12 10
12 Baguley, Mark 8 6 6 14 0 0 0 2 0 1 27y 60d 44 2
22 Carlisle, Jake 13 12 6 19 8 2 1 7 2 1 22y 292d 65 35
3 Chapman, Paul 13 6 8 21 1 1 0 3 1 0 32y 257d 265 352
32 Colyer, Travis 12 1 3 15 1 1 0 3 2 0 22y 330d 40 26
29 Dell'Olio, Cory 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 4 0 0 24y 224d 14 15
15 Dempsey, Courtenay 6 1 5 11 0 0 0 5 0 1 26y 326d 100 26
31 Fletcher, Dustin 11 6 5 16 0 0 0 0 1 1 39y 74d 392 70
9 Goddard, Brendon 8 5 9 17 0 0 0 1 1 0 29y 61d 241 133
21 Heppell, Dyson 14 4 8 22 0 0 0 8 1 0 22y 67d 79 18
1 Hibberd, Michael 8 4 8 16 0 0 1 0 1 1 24y 198d 59 8
39 Hocking, Heath 8 2 1 9 0 0 0 2 0 0 26y 205d 113 39
26 Hooker, Cale 13 12 5 18 0 0 3 0 0 1 25y 280d 105 7
40 Howlett, Ben 2 1 1 3 0 0 0 6 0 1 25y 272d 91 45
18 Hurley, Michael 11 5 9 20 0 0 0 4 1 1 24y 49d 94 100
20 Merrett, Jackson 4 1 3 7 0 1 1 0 1 1 21y 143d 27 11
27 Merrett, Zach 10 3 8 18 0 0 0 2 0 0 18y 290d 14 8
23 Myers, David 12 4 8 20 0 2 1 8 1 4 25y 20d 78 23
30 Ryder, Paddy 16 5 2 18 2 0 35 3 4 1 26y 128d 164 110
5 Stanton, Brent 11 6 6 17 0 1 0 9 0 0 28y 80d 220 145
8 Winderlich, Jason 10 8 11 21 1 0 0 1 1 1 29y 283d 122 78
11 Zaharakis, David 10 1 6 16 0 1 0 1 0 1 24y 149d 104 84
  Rushed   2  
  Totals 203 94 121 324 15 11 42 73 18 17 25y 353d 2443 1345

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.