Playing star midfielder Josh Dunkley in ruck proved effective for Western Bulldogs

Luke Beveridge opting to play star midfielder Josh Dunkley as a ruckman raised eyebrows but the bizarre tactic proved effective. See how the move turned the tide for the Bulldogs in the second half.

Sam Landsberger

@samlandsberger

7 min read

August 22, 2020 - 8:13PM

Steven May and Jake Lever of the Demons both punch the ball away from Josh Bruce of the Bulldogs. Picture: Michael Klein

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Luke Beveridge’s pre-game theme focused on the 1958 light-heavyweight championship fight between Yvon Durelle and Archie Moore.

Beveridge showed his players black and white footage of Durelle knocking the champion down three times in the first round only to get knocked out in the 11th round.

A loss to Melbourne at Metricon Stadium on Saturday would’ve put the Western Bulldogs on the canvas.

In fact, with games against top-four outfits Geelong and West Coast to come it probably would’ve been lights out.

With the Demons leading by seven points at halftime, and a perplexing ruck battle unfolding, Beveridge pulled no punches.

In the blue corner, weighing in at just 88kg stood Josh Dunkley. In the red corner, weighing in at 116kg as the heaviest player in the AFL stood Braydon Preuss.

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Josh Dunkley gave up 18kg to Dees big man Braydon Preuss. Picture: Michael Klein

Dunkley was well out of his weight division and despite the presence of Tim English even Jack Macrae jumped for two hit-outs.

When asked about the tactics Beveridge wouldn’t even let Fox Footy boundary rider Alastair Lynch finish his question.

“But at the end (of the second quarter) Tim was in ruck and it cost us two goals,” he interjected.

“So we’ve got to be better around there and more organized. Dunks was off the ground at that point and until then I found we contained it.”

Melbourne defenders Jake Lever and Steven May were dominating Aaron Naughton and Josh Bruce to the point where they were intercepting Marcus Bontempelli entries as if they were the intended targets.

It was groundball or bust and so Beveridge pulled two simple yet savvy moves that ultimately lifted the Bulldogs into the top eight.

In the second half English was stationed at full-forward, Bruce went into the ruck and the Bulldogs’ stoppage domination and took off as they began to shark.

They landed five scoreboard blows in 15 pulsating minutes that decided the match.

The sixth blow for the third quarter fittingly came when English held a contested grab over Michael Hibberd and – from a tight pocket with a tricky wind – improved his set-shot record to 4.10 this year.

Tim English took this clunk while stationed up forward. Picture: Michael Klein

The Bulldogs took 26 uncontested marks in the term as they controlled the ball and transitioned out of the backline as if it were training.

By full-time this was Beveridge’s ruck spread – Dunkley 24 ruck contests attended, English 23, Bruce 17 and Macrae 2.

With Bruce away from the action and Naughton held goalless, up bobbed Mitch Wallis with a career-best four goals, the frizzy-haired forward also out-marking Hibberd to ice the game.

Wallis’s rebirth as a strong, marking forward is no gimmick.

Wallis has kicked goals from 24.5 per cent of the time he has been targeted inside 50m, ranked No.1 in the AFL.

Wallis dubbed this result a “turning point” and the positives peeled off the page.

Dogs legend Brad Johnson loves Laitham Vandermeer’s pace, power and sense of adventure while Bailey Smith reminds Nick Riewoldt of West Coast champion Daniel Kerr.

Vandermeer is 21 and Smith could be leading the best-and-fairest as a 19-year-old.

The Dogs and Dees are a combined 1-11 against top-eight teams – with Melbourne’s thumping of a depleted Collingwood the sole victory.

The Bulldogs are thrilled they’ve shed their tag as the AFL club most easily bullied.

Now – like Archie Moore 62 years ago – it is time for them to take a heavyweight scalp.

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Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge concedes he has a major rucking issue and key forward Josh Bruce may be a suitable stop-gap measure for the rest of the season.

Trailing by seven points at half-time, Beveridge turned to Bruce to at least compete with Melbourne’s big man Braydon Preuss, who was all over Tim English and under-sized Josh Dunkley.

Bruce managed a few hit outs but at least provided more of a contest and the result was a six -oal turn-around after the long break and a thumping 28 point win for the Bulldogs.

“Bruce was instrumental in that second half as probably our first ruck ... and he really influenced the game after that,” Beveridge said.

Bayley Fritsch and the Demons leave the field after losing to the Bulldogs. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

He said their midfield showed nous in sharking Preuss’ work and it was a similar scenario against Adelaide last round when they fed off Crows’ ruckman Reilly O’Brien.

“We have got to recognise what our vulnerabilities (lack of a dominant ruckman) are and mitigate the risk and try and get an advantage from it, and I feel like the last two weeks we have been able to do it,” Beveridge said.

“It will be an interesting battle next week for us (against Geelong). They have Mark Blicavs coming-in off a wing.”

Beveridge was full of praise for mid-sized forward Mitch Wallis who bagged a career-high four goals, including two in the third term when the Dogs piled on six majors to turn the game around.

“Just outstanding,” he said.

“Just his strength in his one-on-ones and (he was) so clean with his ball handling. It’s the first time that Wally has kicked four and it’s important to break new ground.”

Tom Sparrow (left) broke his collarbone in Saturday’s loss. Picture: Jono Searle/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin could find very few, if any positives, to reflect upon.

He said there were periods in the first half when they moved the ball well and scored on entry, but the Demons’ turnovers proved terminal.

Even when they led by seven points at half-time he felt they had struggled and, after half-time, their defensive effort was lacking and the end result was inevitable.

“I think we got beat in most areas, to be frank,” Goodwin said at the post-match press conference.

“There wasn’t a lot to like about the way we played today. I thought we got beaten in all phases of the game and the most disappointing thing, as I said, was our defence.

“We weren’t able to execute that to the level we thought we were wanting at the start of the game.”

The Demons lost veteran Nathan Jones just minutes before the opening bounce because of tightness in a quadricep and he was replaced by Mitch Hannan.

Adding to their woes was the loss of rookie Tom Sparrow who sustained a broken collarbone in the third quarter.

Mitch Wallis and Bailey Smith celebrate Saturday’s win over Melbourne. Picture: Michael Klein

PREUSS IMPRESSES

Melbourne’s back-up ruckman Braydon Preuss staked his claim for a permanent slot in the seniors after an impressive gut-running performance.

Despite having played just one match this season, the 25-year-old made contest after contest in trying gusty conditions against two opponents.

Preuss played pretty much a lone hand in the ruck against Tim English and Josh Dunkley, clearly outpointing the latter.

The only downside was that Melbourne’s midfield brigade could not capitalise on Preuss’ efforts with the Bulldogs on-ballers often reading his tap work far better.

After two worthy games, Preuss poses the question as to whether coach Simon Goodwin affords his injured number one ruckman Max Gawn for a further match off or playing both against St Kilda next week.

Demon Braydon Preuss and Bulldog Tim English do battle. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

WHAT’S LACKING FOR BULLDOGS?

The Bulldogs’ midfield was brilliant in mopping up at ground level and rebounding out of defence but there’s cause for concern in the big man department.

Even though Preuss was only the Dees back-up ruckman, he underlined a glaring issue in the ruck for the Bulldogs which relied on English and Dunkley to do the tap work.

Both are adept in the ruck, but lack size.

English was more dangerous and more comfortable as a target forward while Dunkley, on occasion, did not even contest against the Preuss who made him look like a school boy.

Preuss had 31 hit-outs while the Bulldogs had 13 in total.

Even Josh Bruce had more hit-outs than Dunkley. Yet for the lack of a genuine ruckman was not an issue against the Dees but is likely to be a far more pressing issue if the Bulldogs are to go deep into the finals series.

That’s not to say they can’t press on, given how well and hard their midfield work, but they’ll need to come up with an A, B and C plan in the future.

Talk about a mismatch … Braydon Preuss and Josh Dunkley contest the ruck. Picture: Michael Klein

BONT AND TRUCK

Melbourne’s midfield gun Christian Petracca and Bulldogs’ midfield general Marcus Bontempelli went head-to-head, with the Doggies star winning the battle.

The duo rarely kept tabs on each other, except at stoppages, and it was Bontempelli’s use of the ball that shone through.

He was engaged in a number of forward thrusts that resulted in goals and helped split the game open in the third quarter when the Dogs appeared as though they may succumb.

He finished the day with 22 disposals, and a goal.

That’s not to say, Petracca didn’t live up to the high standard he has set himself this year.

There were times when Petracca tried to do it all on his own as his team was sliding to defeat and he led the Demons with 26 disposals which included 11 contested possessions.

Both players did not do their Brownlow Medal chances any harm although it’s likely Bontempelli will figure in the votes ahead of Petracca.