AFL round 4 Fremantle v Western Bulldogs: All the news, analysis and fallout from Freos’ win
Luke Beveridge said the Western Bulldogs became too predictable in looking at their talisman Sam Darcy as they let one slip against a Dockers side left licking its wounds.
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Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge thought his side got too Sam Darcy conscious in the last quarter on Sunday when the game against Fremantle was up for grabs.
Darcy kicked five goals in the 16 points loss and looked the most dangerous forward on the ground. His fifth came midway through the final term to get the margin to a manageable 16 points.
But Beveridge thought his midfield became predictable, and could have looked for other options when going in attack in that quarter.
The Bulldogs trailed by 24 points at the final change, but dominated the final term, with Fremantle ruck Luke Jackson sidelined with injury.
They went forward 16 times, nine times more than the Dockers, but managed only two goals.
“He was a real winner for us again. And I thought we got a bit too Sam conscious in the last quarter,” Beveridge said.
“I thought we kicked it to him a bit too much. We had different options.
“I mean, why wouldn’t you at time? But you know, when that becomes too predictable, and we’ve got enough threats… I thought James (O’Donnell) and Aaron (Naughton) were fighting their way through it.
“We’ve probably been too predictable.”
Beveridge thought his midfield, still without Adam Treloar and Marcus Bontempelli, gave his side the chance to win the game.
Again, it was Tom Liberatore, who did a lot of the heavy lifting, with 30 disposals and six clearances.
He’s now averaging more than 30 possessions a game over the four outings to start the season.
But Beveridge suggested that the 32-year-old would need to be rested at some stage, considering the work he has been asked to do.
“He rarely gets tackles broken and he’s obviously a really hard edge for us in there,” he said.
“And there’s some new players, you know, Joel Freijah and Ed Richards and Riley Sanders, some of the younger boys going through there.
Matt Kennedy is obviously new to our club, so they’ve been working pretty well together as a bit of a different unit, those lads.
“Today, I think they did enough to give us a chance.
“It’s obviously a really dry, dry day and a warmer day. So, hopefully Tom pulls up alright from this one.
“I think at some stage maybe Libba might need a week or two off. We’ll work out when that might be.”
With key players still a few weeks away from returning, that week off is unlikely to be the coming one, when the Bulldogs face reigning premier, the Brisbane Lions, at Norwood Oval.
DOCKERS LICKING THEIR WOUNDS AFTER DOG DOMINATION
The Western Bulldogs let one slip in Perth on Sunday.
They had the most dangerous forward on Optus Stadium on Sunday, Sam Darcy.
They had the ball in their forward line 19 times more than Fremantle.
But the Dockers held on to win a thriller by 16 points.
The home side was down a player and were without Luke Jackson for the entire final term. The in-form big man was on the bench with an expected hamstring injury.
The Dogs, who along with Adelaide and Greater Western Sydney, have yet to lose a fourth quarter this season, had their chances.
Darcy kicked the opening goal of the quarter, his fifth, to get the margin to just 16 points.
But despite having nine more entries into attack in the final term, they could muster only 2.3 to 1.1, losing 15.7 (97) to 12.9 (81).
The win did come at a cost to Fremantle, with several players likely to be in doubt for the Gather Round clash against Richmond.
The most important of them is ruck Luke Jackson, who missed the final term with a hamstring injury.
But Dockers coach Justin Longmuir said they didn’t think he would be sidelined for too long.
“We think it’s a hammy. We think it’s low grade. So, like all these things we’ll get a scan but it’s not significant,” he said.
“You might have seen him trying to test it at three-quarter time, that’s an indicator that yeah it’s not significant.
“You lose one of the best players in the team, it’s obviously disappointing.
“He had nine score involvements, he was competing his backside off. And he’s been one of our better players consistently across the first four games.
“So yeah, he’s going to leave a hole.”
Corey Wagner is thought to have injured his calf, while Nathan O’Driscoll also struggled to run out the game due to a rolled ankle.
Jaeger O’Meara also finished the game sore, but the club is hopeful he’ll be ok to play Richmond.
Hayden Young and Sean Darcy both played for Peel Thunder in the WAFL on Saturday.
FAILED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE
Winning away from home usually relies on having a good start and the Dogs had that.
They dominated general play for the first term, but they somehow managed to trail by two points at quarter-time.
The Bulldogs had 49 more possessions and went forward 18 times for the term, to the Dockers eight.
Darcy had 10 touches for the quarter, more than anyone else on the ground. And he’d kicked two goals in the first 10 minutes of play.
It was his best start in his short 32-game career.
But Fremantle was more efficient when going into attack, kicking 4.2 with those eight forward-line entries.
CELEBRATE IN STYLE
Once Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw got going, Fremantle got going.
The impact from the Dockers pair was a bit delayed this week. It was early in the second term and Darcy had kicked his third goal.
James Harmes gave the Dogs a six-point lead and silenced the crowd with an incredible snap at goal from the boundary line.
But on the back of their midfield pair, the Dockers piled on the last six goals of the first half.
Serong had 11 touches for the term and Brayshaw, celebrating his 150th AFL game, had 13.
He celebrated it with one of those goals, kicked late in the term.
When the sun got in Buku Khamis’ eyes, who comically missed an uncontested mark, Josh Treacy ran on to the ball and dished it off the Brayshaw, who ran into the open goal.
When Jeremy Sharp added another one minute later, the Dockers had blown the margin out to 32 points.
SIGNS THERE FOR BOLTON
There were good signs on Sunday that Shai Bolton is getting back to his best.
After two goalless games to start his career with Fremantle, the former Richmond star finally got on the board.
A quick kick into attack by Caleb Serong found Bolton one-out with Bailey Williams. As Bolton does, he baulked one way, went the other and left Williams dazed as he took a bounce and ran into the open goal.
He should have had two in the term, but missed the set shot from 20m out from the boundary.
And he came close to cementing mark of the year when he flew over Rory Lobb, but failed to grab the ball.
Bolton finished with two goals from 14 possessions.
Originally published as AFL round 4 Fremantle v Western Bulldogs: All the news, analysis and fallout from Freos’ win
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