Australian Football

Match Report

The Western Bulldogs have continued their late season renaissance with an impressive come-from-behind win against Adelaide in Sunday's twilight match at Docklands stadium.

In a game of very high standard that belied the ladder positions of the two teams the 15th-placed Bulldogs took early control against the 13th-placed Crows, kicking seven goals to four in a first quarter full of skill and speed. After an angry verbal spray from coach Brenton Sanderson at quarter-time, the Crows increased their intensity in the second term, kicking four goals to two to narrow the gap to just five points at half-time.

The Crows continued to apply the blowtorch through most of the third quarter and jumped out to a 22-point lead at the 24-minute mark and it looked at that point that the Bulldogs, who had won two of their three previous games, were about to receive a severe reality check.

But the Dogs kicked the last two goals of the third term against the trend to reduce the deficit to just nine-points at the last change, and then produced a withering last quarter burst of seven goals to three to turn the match on its head and win by 17-points and end Adelaide's faint finals hopes.

The Bulldogs transformation over the past month has been remarkable. For the first half of the year they were a team that could not move the ball with any system or speed and their forward line could be described only as dysfunctional. But the last four weeks has seen them climb the rankings dramatically in all of the game's key indicators. The Dogs have won three of four matches, their only loss being an honourable one to Sydney and have been the highest scoring team in the league in that period. With games against Brisbane and Melbourne to come, the Bulldogs could conceivably finish the season with five wins from six and full of running.

Adelaide's effort was certainly not poor. The Crows have been hamstrung by injury in 2013 and coach Sanderson would be rightly optimistic of the team bouncing back into the finals next year. The Crows will see out the season with matches against Melbourne at home and West Coast at Subiaco.

GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Dickson 6; Campbell 4; Giansiracusa, Cooney 2; Minson, Dahlhaus, Wood, Cross, Wallis, Stevens
Adelaide: Otten, Lynch, Callinan 3; Sloane 2; Vince, Dangerfield, van Berlo, Mackay, Douglas, Petrenko

BEST - THE AGE
Western Bulldogs: Liberatore, Minson, Dickson, Murphy, Cooney, Boyd
Adelaide: Vince, Douglas, Thompson, Otten, Callinan, Laird

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Western Bulldogs: Liberatore, Wallis, Dickson, Campbell, Griffen, Boyd
Adelaide: Vince, Dangerfield, Sloane, Thompson, Douglas, Otten, Crouch

INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Nil
Adelaide: Mitch Grigg (hip), replaced in selected side by Matthew Jaensch; Laird (concussion)

SUBSTITUTES
Western Bulldogs: Tom Young substituted out for Lachie Hunter in the third quarter
Adelaide: Matthew Jaensch substituted out for Sam Kerridge in the fourth quarter

UMPIRES: Findlay, Harris, Pannell

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Dwayne Russell, Gerard Healy, Danny Frawley, Cameron Mooney