AFL round 13: Western Bulldogs v Brisbane Lions, result, news and SuperCoach scores
Brisbane has put its fellow finals contenders on notice with a commanding win over Western Bulldogs which raised serious questions about Dogs’ top-eight credentials.
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It was said during the week that you can’t trust what the Brisbane Lions are going to bring to the table any given week this year.
That might be true, but what about the Western Bulldogs?
For a long time now, Luke Beveridge’s side has been about as trustworthy as a used car salesman – and little looks to have changed this season.
A week after a spirited come-from-behind win over reigning premier Collingwood, the Bulldogs were belted by last year’s runner-up on Friday night.
The Lions — who entered the contest having won four games this season — were made to look like world-beaters courtesy of a much-heralded opposition midfield which was a dog’s breakfast.
The Bulldogs might have been missing three of their top-five goalkickers this season in Aaron Naughton, Sam Darcy and Cody Weightman.
But there were no excuses for a midfield which simply failed to fire.
Tom Liberatore returned from a month off with concussion, joining Marcus Bontempelli, Adam Treloar and Tim English as the starting onball brigade.
But Bontempelli received close attention from Jarrod Berry — who was given a run-with role — and the Bulldogs couldn’t handle it.
Liberatore was distracted trying to block for Bontempelli and the skipper had no influence when the game was on the line early.
Bontempelli took 18 minutes to record his first kick — a goal — after being shifted forward.
By half-time, he had six disposals and no clearances and the Lions were +17 in the clearance count, +17 for inside-50s and +33 points on the scoreboard.
Game over.
Bontempelli worked his way into the game in the second half, but his side couldn’t come with him.
Hurt by the supply coming in, the Bulldogs’ defence was picked apart and conceded their highest score against of the season.
There wasn’t a lot happening forward, either, when the ball did find its way down there.
If ever there was a game where the Bulldogs needed Rory Lobb to step up, this was it.
He was subbed out in the last quarter having recorded five disposals and no score, having been opposed to Harris Andrews for large periods of the match.
Coming off a 12-day break, the Lions looked as fresh as a daisy and the win officially put them back in the finals hunt.
Coach Chris Fagan had stayed positive during the bye, telling his group that they had actually been “playing pretty good football” despite the poor win-loss record.
It was poor goalkicking and a failure to arrest opposition momentum swings at times which was to blame for many of the Lions’ losses, Fagan argued.
Neither of those things were a problem on Friday night.
Key forward Eric Hipwood’s radar was on as he bagged 6.2 to help Brisbane to a respectable 17.12 (114), while the home side never kicked more than two consecutive goals.
Over the next five weeks, Brisbane faces games against St Kilda, Port Adelaide, Melbourne, Adelaide and West Coast.
Given none of those sides are travelling particularly well, there’s an opportunity there to get on a roll.
There could be some upside to come, too.
If Charlie Cameron can pull himself out of a form slump he’ll further boost an attack which has an ever-improving pair of young stars in Kai Lohmann and Logan Morris.
As for the Bulldogs, they will finish the round where they started it on the ladder — 11th.
However, they are likely to drift two games outside the top-eight by Monday afternoon.
If Beveridge’s team can’t overcome a top-eight side in Fremantle at Marvel Stadium next Saturday, their season might be in the bin by the bye the following week.
LIONS PUT TOP EIGHT ON NOTICE WITH BULLDOGS BLITZ
— Ronny Lerner
The Eric Hipwood-inspired Brisbane Lions have emphatically put the brakes on the Western Bulldogs’ mid-season momentum with a comprehensive 43-point victory over the Dogs in an upset result at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
After a seesawing first quarter, which produced five lead changes, the Lions blew the game wide open in the second, with six goals to one, as they belatedly capitalised on their total domination of general play.
At halftime, the Lions were smashing the Dogs in clearances 30-13, contested possessions 79-60, inside 50s 36-19 and disposals 213-157 to lead by 33 points before running out 17.12 (114) to 10.11 (71) victors.
Hipwood tends to be a whipping boy for Brisbane fans, and with only two goals in his previous five games, he gave them plenty of reasons to be frustrated.
But the 26-year-old played the best match of his 164-game career against the Dogs, finishing up with an equal personal best six goals, to go with career-highs in disposals (20) and marks (13), as well as an equal best four contested marks, against one of the best defenders in the competition Liam Jones.
Hipwood played like a man possessed as he imposed himself on the contest with unprecedented physicality, freely flying for his marks and helped his team end the contest early with four first-half majors.
Conversely, down the other end of the ground, without Aaron Naughton or Sam Darcy up forward, the Dogs were crying out for someone to fill the huge breach, but Rory Lobb could only muster five disposals and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (two goals) struggled to have an impact.
Jarrod Berry (23 touches and a goal) was also pivotal with a tremendous tagging job on Bulldogs champion Marcus Bontempelli, keeping arguably the best player in the AFL to six disposals in the first half, a week after his best-on-ground effort against Collingwood, which included a career-high 38 touches.
Bontempelli finished with a respectable 19 touches and three goals, but crucially he was shut out when the match was up for grabs.
Dual Brownlow Medalist Lachie Neale was outstanding for Brisbane as well, finishing with 38 possessions (14 contested), 10 clearances and two goals.
The Lions ended up creaming the Dogs in clearances 50-32 and inside 50s 64-45. The AFL average for marks inside 50 per game is 12, yet 10 minutes into the second quarter, the Lions already had eight and finished with a whopping 21.
DOGS BACK IN THE PACK
The Dogs were an outside chance of finishing in the top eight this round if they took care of Brisbane, as the bookmakers expected them to do, but Luke Beveridge’s men could be two games adrift with 10 matches remaining.
They will now likely require at least six more wins to make the finals this year after all their good work from the previous month largely came undone.
Meanwhile, the struggling Lions kept their faint September flame flickering, but considering they will likely still be 10 points outside the eight on Monday evening, they certainly still have a big job ahead of themselves in the second half of the year.
MIGHTY MORRIS
Brisbane youngster Logan Morris has made an impression in his first handful of games at the top level, and he produced a goal-of-the-night contender early in the second quarter when he broke tackles from Lachie Bramble, Alex Keath and Tim English before splitting the big sticks with a beautiful banana from 20m out to put his team up by 15 points.
DAZZLING DANIHER
His star teammate Joe Daniher wasn’t far behind him. Late in the first term, the big forward baulked James O’Donnell and while being tackled by English, his spectacular snap from 30m out on the boundary curled around to perfection.
Originally published as AFL round 13: Western Bulldogs v Brisbane Lions, result, news and SuperCoach scores
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