Australian Football

Match Report

Truly, this is the stuff of fairytales. Having overthrown the king (Hawthorn) last week, the perennially underachieving Western Bulldogs have now slain the Giants and are just one step away (albeit a huge one) from giving that fairytale the happy ending that so many fans - not just those of the Dogs - are hoping for. 

In a titanic struggle at the Sydney Showground, the Giants and the Bulldogs expended every ounce of energy they had in an effort to secure a place in the Grand Final. For the Giants, it would be the first of their short history; for the Dogs, the first in 55 long and desolate years. Throughout the match, one side, and then the other looked like the Grand Final prize would be theirs but, in the end, when the final siren sounded, it was the Bulldogs with their noses in front, by just five points, a margin which became six when Tory Dickson hit the post with his post-siren kick. 

Dickson's miss mattered not one bit, as he and his teammates and coaches embraced, knowing that they had achieved what seven previous Doggies teams had tried and failed to do since their last Grand Final appearance - win a Preliminary Final. 

As they had done in their earlier two finals against West Coast and Hawthorn, the Bulldogs made the early running in the match. In contrast to the first two finals, though, this time the Dogs were able to find the target early, with a defensive rebound turning into an attack which resulted in a goal to Clay Smith at the six-minute mark. After another six minutes of in-tight play, the Bulldogs scored a second goal when Tory Dickson from a fall after a missed mark to kick his second and give the Dogs an 11-point lead. 

The Dogs had a big chance to extend that lead to 17 when Josh Dunkley had a shot from close range after a mark. Not for the first time in this finals series, however, Dunkley missed what could only be described as a 'sitter', leaving the door open for the Giants. Being the good side that it is, GWS took its opportunities when the momentum shifted in its direction and, after Devon Smith scored the Giants' first major at the 22-minute mark, Jonathon Patton followed up with his first two minutes later to the cut the margin to a point.

Clay Smith then had another easy shot right on the quarter-time siren but he too missed, leaving the Bulldogs ahead by two points at the first change but many fans watching with a sense of dread that those easy misses might come back to haunt them. 

It took less than a minute in the second quarter for the Giants to exacerbate those fears, with Toby Greene executing a great smother on a defensive kick from Bulldog Joel Hamling. Greene followed up his smother by grabbing the loose ball and running in to score an easy goal to put GWS four points ahead. Defences ruled over the next eight minutes, without neither side able to escape the clutches of the other in a high-pressure, highly charged contest. The drought was finally broken when Clay Smith receiving a handball from Luke Dahlhaus and kicking his second at the nine-minute mark to put the Dogs ahead.

The lead didn't last long, though with Greene taking an essay mark and goaling two minutes later but three minutes later Tory Dickson did the same and the Bulldogs were once again by two points at the 13-minute mark. When Clay Smith chimed in with a snap that gave him his third goal, the Dogs were eight points clear and starting to look the better side but Patton's second had the Giants back within two points late in the term. Again Clay Smith came to the fore and his beautiful roving goal, his fourth of the match, gave the Western Bulldogs a nine-point advantage at the half. 

GWS came out the stronger side in the third term, attacking heavily for the first five minutes, Dylan Shiel and Devon Smith both missed shots, but when Rory Lobb kicked a goal through heavy traffic, the Giants were within a point. A rushed behind then levelled the scores, and GWS looked as though it was getting on top. However, when Tory Dickson bobbed up with a great one-handed mark and converted, the Bulldogs once again led by a goal. 

Jake Stringer missed a gettable shot a couple of minutes later and the tide turned dramatically soon after that. Over a 10-minute period, Patton, Lobb and Heath Shaw all added goals for GWS (in Shaw's case, his first of the year) and the Giants were 11 points clear and in control early in time on. But the momentum swung once more and a great goal from Zaine Cordy after some fine play from Bontempelli was followed by another on the run by Caleb Daniel just before the three-quarter time siren and the Giants were only one point ahead at the final turn. 

Trailing by just that one point when the final quarter began, a Grand Final place appeared to be there for the taking for the Western Bulldogs, but after just four minutes of the term, its seemed too be quickly slipping from their grasp after first Lobb goaled, after a mark at the two-minute marked, and then Toby Greebe did the same with a good mark on the lead and an unerring kick for goal. Suddenly, GWS was 14 points clear and heading for its own first Grand Final berth. 

Once again, though, the worm turned. At the five-minute mark, Dickson took a tumbling mark and, seeing no Giant had bothered to pick up the mark, strolled in and cut the margin to eight points with his fourth goal. The Dogs added three more behinds and then, with the ball pinballing off players of both sides, it landed in the arms of Jason Johannisen. Johannisen took off like a hare, with no Giant able to catch him. Having reached midfield, he sent the ball long to a running Bontempelli who kicked truly and the Dogs were in front by a point, 16 minutes into the term. 

Three minutes later, a scrambled short kick from Caleb Daniel landed in the arms of Cordy, whose over-the-shoulder snap sailed through. As the quarter entered time on, the Bulldogs were seven points clear and almost through to their first Grand Final in more than five decades. But euphoria turned to fear very soon after when Patton marked and kicked his fourth, leaving the Dogs only a point ahead.

Johannisen had a shot but missed. Then GWS had two chances but snaps from Jeremy Cameron, hardly sighted all night, and Greene both missed. Then a beautiful tap from Bontempelli to Tom Liberatore saw 'Libba' kick beautifully to Jack Macrae in space, Macrae marked under pressure and kicked just his second goal of 2016, putting the Bulldogs a goal ahead at the 28-minute mark. Again the Giants came, but a long kick from Devon Smith missed - five points the difference.

The Dogs again chipped their way out of defence, eventually gaining a free 'overlap' player. A chain of handballs from Macrae to Liberatore to Tom Boyd ended in the hands of Jake Stringer, who coolly passed to Dickson, who marked 28 seconds on the clock. Dickson used his full 30 seconds to wind down the clock and the siren sounded before his kick. It hit the post but that did not matter to anyone. The Bulldogs had won by a goal and ended the longest active Grand Final drought in the AFL. 

Clay Smith's four goals and 26 possessions made him one of the Dogs' best, a performance made all the more poignant by the fact that Smith lost a close friend in a car accident only days earlier. Dahlhaus (32 possessions, nine marks) and Johannisen (26 disposals, seven marks) were also crucial to the win. For GWS, Dylan Shiel (28 touches and five tackles) and Tom Scully (30 disposals and five tackles) did everything they could to get the home side over the line. 

The Giants will rue missed opportunities, but there is little doubt that their time as an AFL powerhouse is about to arrive. They will start as one of the favourites for the 2017 flag and, with the wealth of talent at their disposal, along with a very astute coach in Leon Cameron, deservedly so.

For the Bulldogs, their time could well be now. They will have a monumental obstacle - the Sydney Swans - to overcome before they can claim a flag and break a 62-year premiership drought. But if they can overcome nerves and play at their best, they will give themselves every chance of doing so. 

GOALS
GWS: Patton 4; Greene, Lobb 3; D. Smith, Shaw
Western Bulldogs: C. Smith, Dickson 4; Cordy 2; Daniel, Bontempelli, Macrae

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
GWS: Kelly, Scully, Patton,Coniglio, Wilson, Greene
Western Bulldogs: C. Smith, Dahlhaus, Dickson, Morris, Wood, Johannisen, Macrae, Picken

BEST - HERALD SUN
GWS: Shiel, Coniglio, Haynes, Scully, Patton, Lobb
Western Bulldogs: Dahlhaus, Smith, Johannisen, Bontempelli, Macrae, Picken, Hamling, Dixon

INJURIES
GWS: Ward (concussion)
Western Bulldogs: Roughead (eye)

UMPIRES: Nicholls, Schmitt, Meredith 

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Brian Taylor, Luke Darcy, Matthew Richardson, Cameron Ling