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Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

Scoreboard | Match report | Match statistics

Round: 1   Venue: Docklands   Date: Sun, 27-03-2016 1:10 pm   Crowd: 27,832  
Western Bulldogs 7.1.439.7.6110.11.7115.13.103 C:  Luke Beveridge
Fremantle 0.2.21.5.114.7.315.8.38 C:  Ross Lyon
  WBULL by 41WBULL by 50WBULL by 40WBULL by 65  
Weather
min temp  14.3°C      max temp  19.9°C
rainfall  1.0mm    humidity  46%    air pressure  1023.1mb
wind speed 15km/h      wind direction  S
Brownlow Medal 3 Jason Johannisen (WBULL)2 Jake Stringer (WBULL)1 Shane Biggs (WBULL)

Match Report

It's a very dangerous thing to draw conclusions based on one match of football, particularly a round-one match, but the Western Bulldogs' irresistible performance against Fremantle on Sunday afternoon makes it very hard to conclude anything other than that Dogs are the 'real deal', a team capable of building on their surprising effort of making the finals last year, and going one or two steps further. With a blend of ferocity, skill and flare, the Bulldogs dismantled the Dockers and made them look second-rate for most of the afternoon. When one considers that Fremantle finished the 2015 home-and-away season atop the ladder, the effort looks all thew more impressive. 

In the truth, the margin could have been far greater than the 65 points that it was. The Bulldogs, having set the game alight with a scintillating seven-goal-to-none first quarter, could easily have done something similar in the second but for wastefulness in front of goal. The Dogs had 11 shots at goal for the quarter, but could manage just 2.6, with three kicks not even scoring. All of the shots - even those that went out on the full - were gettable, and the half-time margin of 50 points should have been much greater.

The Freo of old emerged to a certain degree in the third quarter, the Dockers restricting the Bulldogs to just 1.4. Fremantle, however, could only conjure three majors of its own, and still trailed by 40 points at 'orange time'. The Dockers then kicked the first goal of the final term to create a flicker of hope but the Bulldogs then regained control to finish very strongly, the last five goals of the match giving them a convincing 11-goal win.

Jake Stringer took another step towards superstardom, with a magnificent five-goal performance for the Dogs, while Tom Liberatore - who missed the entire season last year with a knee injury - picked up where he left off in his best-and-fairest winning year of 2014, looking as good as ever. But all 22 Bulldogs played well, and there really wasn't a weak link in the side.

In contrast, Fremantle had very few winners, although Lachie Neale (32 possessions, four tackles) was solid all day. The Dockers looked slow at times, and their skill level was well below par. Whether this was a function of the Bulldogs pressure is debatable. The Dockers also struggled to find an avenue to goal, kicking just five for the match. It's difficult not to wonder if football has passed by the 'Ross Lyon' style of play. But one week does not a season make, and Lyon is a very astute coach. It would be foolhardy to write the Dockers off after one poor performance, yet doubts are creeping in to the minds of many pundits.

How Fremantle performs against Gold Coast this Saturday night will perhaps heighten or allay those doubts. The Dogs on the other hand will look to consolidate on a great start with a win over the young Saints at Docklands on Saturday night.

GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Stringer 5; Bontempelli, Liberatore, McLean, Johannisen, Dunkley, Roughead, Suckling, T Boyd, Macrae, Daniel
Fremantle: Walters, Suban, Taberner, Weller, Pavlich

BEST - THE AGE
Western Bulldogs: Stringer, Johannisen, Biggs, Macrae, Murphy, Liberatore, Dahlhaus
Fremantle: Neale, Mundy, Barlow, Walters, C Pearce

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Western Bulldogs: Johannisen, Biggs, Stringer, Murphy, Macrae, Suckling, Liberatore
Fremantle: Neale, Dawson, Sheridan, C Pearce, Mundy

INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Nil 
Fremantle: Clarke (knee)

REPORTS: Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle) reported for rough conduct on Easton Wood (Western Bulldogs).

UMPIRES: O'Gorman, Meredith, Ryan

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Dwayne Russell, Sandy Roberts, Jason Dunstall, Danny Frawley, Cameron Mooney

Source

Match report by Andrew Gigacz

Footnotes

Video sourced from YouTube, courtesy of the AFL.

Match stats

Western Bulldogs Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
33 Adams, Marcus 8 8 7 15 0 0 0 1 1 0 22y 271d 1 0
24 Biggs, Shane 22 6 13 35 0 1 0 2 1 0 24y 235d 17 3
4 Bontempelli, Marcus 11 1 9 20 1 1 0 6 1 2 20y 124d 38 33
5 Boyd, Matthew 13 8 13 26 0 0 0 2 1 2 33y 213d 259 83
17 Boyd, Tom 7 6 3 10 1 0 5 3 1 1 20y 218d 24 25
6 Dahlhaus, Luke 7 2 18 25 0 1 0 6 4 2 23y 219d 95 86
35 Daniel, Caleb 12 6 8 20 1 0 0 3 1 0 19y 264d 11 7
20 Dunkley, Josh 8 4 7 15 1 1 1 4 0 1 19y 78d 1 1
7 Hunter, Lachie 16 10 15 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 21y 105d 37 16
39 Johannisen, Jason 20 9 15 35 1 1 0 0 0 1 23y 140d 48 13
21 Liberatore, Tom 11 2 14 25 1 1 0 2 1 1 23y 316d 78 19
11 Macrae, Jack 12 5 18 30 1 0 0 4 1 1 21y 237d 56 18
16 McLean, Toby 13 7 9 22 1 1 0 3 3 0 20y 56d 5 3
38 Morris, Dale 5 5 5 10 0 1 0 1 1 0 33y 89d 208 3
2 Murphy, Bob 20 9 11 31 0 1 0 1 0 0 33y 292d 293 173
42 Picken, Liam 11 5 12 23 0 1 0 3 2 0 29y 239d 151 46
23 Roughead, Jordan 5 3 6 11 1 0 21 5 0 1 25y 145d 89 17
25 Stevens, Koby 8 1 19 27 0 0 0 8 0 1 24y 283d 63 29
9 Stringer, Jake 12 6 6 18 5 1 0 2 0 0 21y 337d 51 99
1 Suckling, Matt 12 8 10 22 1 1 0 2 0 1 27y 246d 103 52
3 Wallis, Mitch 7 0 17 24 0 1 1 3 0 0 23y 155d 77 30
10 Wood, Easton 10 5 13 23 0 0 0 1 1 0 26y 205d 88 12
  Totals 250 116 248 498 15 13 28 62 19 14 24y 219d 1793 768
Fremantle Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
1 Ballantyne, Hayden 7 4 2 9 0 1 0 5 1 1 28y 255d 122 195
21 Barlow, Michael 13 6 9 22 0 0 3 2 1 1 28y 100d 114 75
30 Clarke, Zac 1 2 6 7 0 0 5 1 0 0 25y 365d 89 46
3 Dawson, Zac 4 8 11 15 0 0 0 3 0 1 30y 34d 147 7
7 Fyfe, Nat 6 4 9 15 0 0 4 2 0 2 24y 191d 113 95
12 Griffin, Jonathon 2 0 5 7 0 0 14 2 2 1 30y 73d 78 27
32 Hill, Stephen 6 2 6 12 0 0 0 3 0 0 25y 331d 152 100
5 Ibbotson, Garrick 15 7 7 22 0 0 0 3 1 1 28y 12d 152 22
23 Mayne, Chris 5 3 5 10 0 2 0 0 1 1 27y 146d 151 178
16 Mundy, David 10 2 11 21 0 0 0 3 0 1 30y 251d 234 92
13 Mzungu, Tendai 6 2 6 12 0 0 0 2 0 1 30y 28d 98 54
27 Neale, Lachie 13 4 19 32 0 0 0 4 1 0 22y 308d 71 36
29 Pavlich, Matthew 5 4 1 6 1 1 0 1 0 1 34y 87d 336 670
46 Pearce, Clancee 19 8 9 28 0 0 0 1 0 1 25y 156d 97 36
6 Pearce, Danyle 9 2 7 16 0 1 0 4 0 0 29y 355d 227 119
11 Sheridan, Tommy 20 11 7 27 0 0 0 3 0 1 22y 151d 39 14
34 Spurr, Lee 15 9 2 17 0 0 0 2 1 2 28y 244d 83 5
8 Suban, Nick 11 3 4 15 1 0 0 3 2 0 25y 323d 130 53
33 Sutcliffe, Cam 15 8 6 21 0 1 0 2 1 1 23y 309d 69 14
20 Taberner, Matt 4 4 4 8 1 1 0 1 0 2 22y 284d 29 24
10 Walters, Michael 9 4 4 13 1 1 0 4 2 1 25y 80d 73 142
14 Weller, Lachie 3 1 2 5 1 0 0 4 1 0 20y 33d 4 1
  Totals 198 98 142 340 5 8 26 55 14 19 26y 320d 2608 2005

Footnotes

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