Western Bulldogs v Adelaide: Aaron Naughton stars with six goals as Crows slump to 0-12 this season

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks conceded his side had few positives to take from its loss to Western Bulldogs as the club lurched to within five games of ending the season without a win.

Simeon Thomas-Wilson

@Simeon_TW

6 min read

August 17, 2020 - 9:44AM

Aaron Naughton was unstoppable for the Western Bulldogs against Adelaide on Sunday. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

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Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks says the winless Crows have “five weeks to re-right the ship” after his side took three steps backwards following another heavy loss.

Despite kicking three goals in six minutes to fight their way back into the game – after the Bulldogs responded to Adelaide’s opener with five-straight majors at Metricon Stadium – the Crows slumped to a 12th-straight loss in 2020 and are staring down the barrel of the first winless season in the modern AFL era.

The 57-point hiding to the Western Bulldogs, who won the tackles by 13 and contested ball by 39, came after two rounds in which the Crows were an improved outfit after a thumping by North Melbourne the last time they played on the Gold Coast.

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Aaron Naughton booted six goals against the Crows. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Nicks said the Crows had taken “two steps up the ladder and then fall three back” with their performance against the Bulldogs.

“We just didn’t really bring (it), did we?,” he said.

“We were outmuscled, beaten in the contest convincingly – (which is) the area we focus mainly on trying to keep ourselves in the fight, and come away with games proud of what we put out there.

“We aren’t doing that, we didn’t do that today.”

Nicks said it again came down to the contest, with Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli having 12 clearances of his own while the Crows as a team managed 19.

“If you are not consistent in the contest you are not competitive, so we will go away and work and we will get hard,” he said.

“We’ve got five weeks to re-right the ship.”

Nicks said the one positive he could take out of the game was that the Crows fought back after falling five goals behind in the first quarter, but that was as good as it got for them.

“We have been unable to do that when we’ve been challenged so far this year, so we fought back for a quarter,” he said.

“(We) came into that break and thought ‘we’ve done well, we’ve been able to fight our way back into the game’, but then after that to be beaten like we were, in the end, beaten by a much stronger midfield group.

“They have bigger bodies, we were unable to stick tackles, they were cleaner with the ball.

“We win hit-outs and we get a chance with first possession, but we fumble.

“Some of that we knew what we were coming up against, we knew coming in that they had a very strong midfield but you can’t have numbers like we did.

“We lost tackles by 13, we lost contested ball by nearly 40, you can’t be doing that.”

Darcy Fogarty was dropped for the clash, and former captain Taylor Walker only managed six disposals and a goal against the Bulldogs.

Nicks said one player could not be singled out for why the Crows were so poor against the Bulldogs.

“I’m really mindful of going there because, goodness me, playing in our forward line today would have been a tough, tough gig,” he said.

Young forward Ben Davis might return to the side for the first time since Round 1, while defender Andrew McPherson was withdrawn at halftime to ensure hamstring tightness didn’t become something a lot worse.

Crows forward Taylor Walker was quiet against the Bulldogs. Picture: Matt Roberts/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

BEVO HAPPY WITH HUNTER

Lachie Hunter had an “outstanding” return to AFL football Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said, as he praised the influence the former vice-captain of the club has over the rest of the team.

Hunter had a fine return to senior footy after taking time off to deal with personal issues, finishing with 29 disposals, nine score involvements and a goal in the Bulldogs’ big win over winless Adelaide.

“He’s been an important player for our club for a long time and we miss his work, and he showed this afternoon (Sunday) what he’s capable of,” Beveridge said.

“That’s great for him because it’s been a difficult time for him and to come back in and feel part of it and be able to produce that sort of football for the team and for his teammates is outstanding.”

After being linked with a potential move to Brisbane in the lead-up to his return, which Beveridge described as “made-up”, Hunter grabbed the Bulldogs guernsey after kicking his goal at Metricon Stadium.

Lachie Hunter shows he’s Bulldogs “through and through” after kicking a goal against Adelaide. Picture: Matt Roberts/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Beveridge said that showed just how invested Hunter was at the club.

“Lachie, he’s such – as you know he’s been part of our leadership group over the journey – he’s an influencer, not in a social media sense, in a football club sense,” he said.

“He’s got great care and empathy for his teammates, but his words and his actions really marry up and so hopefully we can have him for a while now and he can continue on his trajectory and he can help us win a few more.”

Outside the successful return of Hunter, and stellar game of Bontempelli, Aaron Naughton stole the show as he demonstrated why he could be the answer to the Bulldogs’ key forward issues.

He finished with six goals on All-Australian fullback Daniel Talia and Beveridge said it showed how important Naughton could be to the Bulldogs going forward.

“We’ve gave him good supply at times, we didn’t hesitate to kick it to him,” he said.

“He’s going to be really important for us in the future and it’s still early days.

“Against an All-Australian player like Daniel Talia, for him to kick six goals, that’s a pretty good afternoon.”

The only blot was an ankle scare to ruckman Tim English late in the match.

Bulldog Tim English duels with Crow Reilly O’Brien. Picture: Matt Roberts/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Beveridge said English was confident it wasn’t anything too serious, and added the young gun still had plenty of work to do to continue his upwards trajectory.

“Let’s not pump him up too much. He had a terrific game against Essendon a number of weeks ago,” he said.

“We’ve had our battles during games in the ruck and he’s learning and progressing, but it’s an area of the ground we still need to crystal ball and manage accordingly because Tim’s not the dominant ruckman that we’d like him to be yet.

“He’s got a lot to learn and he’s got a long way to go.”

CONFIDENCE BOOSTING CROWS

Matches against the Crows have come at the perfect time for their opponents in recent weeks.

North Melbourne snapped a six-game losing streak at the start of August against them, Melbourne was able to ease the pressure on coach Simon Goodwin and Collingwood overcame a huge injury toll to claim a win in Adelaide’s last game.

The Bulldogs came into the match on the back of three straight losses, with a win required to keep their finals hopes alive.

Coaches like to say there are no easy games in the AFL, but they must be relishing coming up against the Crows.

MAGNIFICENT MARCUS

It was the game we’ve all been waiting for all season from Bontempelli.

For some reason, the Crows did not tag the Bulldogs superstar and he made them pay.

At quarter-time he had more clearances than the whole Crows team, and a true captain’s goal to go along with them.

After the Crows kicked three straight following their horror start, from the ensuing centre bounce Bontempelli first laid a tackled, then forced a turnover from Harry Schoenberg, speared a kick into the Bulldogs’ forward 50, found himself on the end of a handball and easily slotted a goal in a true passage of class.