Western Bulldogs made to look second-rate by relentless Collingwood in ‘nightmare’ start
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge conceded his side were “obliterated” by a merciless Collingwood as the Magpies produced one of the best post-clearance pressure rates on record.
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Western Bulldogs were given 196 days to stew on last year’s elimination final.
Faced with accusations they were soft and bullied in that 58-point hiding by fierce rival GWS, a summer heavy on weights sessions beckoned.
As coach Luke Beveridge told the Herald Sun last week: “It (lack of physicality) was a pretty big elephant in the room. They beat us at the game and they beat us with the off-the-ball stuff”.
Well, after Round 1 the same question will now be written in bold. Against GWS last September they lost contested ball by 42.
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Against Collingwood on Friday night they lost contested ball by 30, an alarming number in a shortened match.
“You’re only as good as your last game and our last two have been pretty ordinary,” Beveridge said.
“To come out and be obliterated really, it’s a disappointing night.”
Dual Brownlow Medallist Chris Judd said the Dogs were fumbly early and weren’t ready to play.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley declared the 52-point win his team’s most dominant performance against a Bulldogs side in several years.
“The (shortened) game looks like there’s more focus on stoppage and that initial phase out of the contest, and we think that suits us,” Buckley said.
Their pressure was relentless. The Magpies applied a post-clearance pressure factor of 1.87, which was the eighth-most amount of post-clearance pressure ever applied in a match.
Every time a Bulldogs midfielder so much as looked at the Sherrin the Magpies swarmed.
Jack Macrae (11 contested possessions) was the only Bulldog to reach double digits and they were dominated around the ball.
Suddenly, the return of Tom Liberatore – the heartbeat of the midfield – can’t come quickly enough.
The Magpies were in such control that they were able to simply bomb the ball in and score, the aerial presence of Mason Cox, Brodie Grundy and Brody Mihocek too strong.
“We should’ve been able to defend those longer balls inside 50m better. We were a bit taller in our back end and just a bit disorganised,” Beveridge said.
“There was a reluctance to drop off and be the third man up and provide some aerial support.”
The midfield lesson that not even new captain Marcus Bontempelli could fight through put the Dogs’ defence under more pressure than Aaron Sandilands’ thongs.
Chemistry was already going to be a teething problem, given Alex Keath and Ryan Gardner had never played in this backline, and they were given a baptism of fire.
Tellingly, the six Dogs who touched the footy the least were the six starting forwards; Sam Lloyd (eight disposals), Bailey Dale (two kicks), Josh Bruce (two kicks), Lewis Young (four disposals), Ben Cavarra (three disposals) and Aaron Naughton (two disposals).
Naughton – the AFL’s second-best contested grab in 2019 – failed to take a mark.
Bizarrely, it wasn’t really their fault.
Halfway through the second quarter the inside 50m count read a staggering 24-2, and scoring shots sat 14-1 in Collingwood’s favour.
The supply was akin to today’s toilet paper shelves at Coles.
The Dogs finished with just 22 forward entries, the fourth-fewest in Champion Data history.
“What a tragic night to play in a Western Bulldogs jersey if you were a forward. It was a real nightmare,” Beveridge said.
It was the first time Naughton and Bruce have shared a forward line, although they probably went to bed still feeling like they haven’t.
Interestingly, Josh Schache’s scoreless pre-season game against Port Adelaide saw Lewis Young pip him as the third forward while Cavarra got the nod over 2016 premiership star Toby McLean.
Beveridge said after demolishing North Melbourne in the Marsh Series “we looked like the team we should be”.
Well, the Round 1 Dogs looked nothing like what we’ve come to expect. In 2019 the Bulldogs averaged 33.7 points from defensive-half chains, ranked No.2 in the AFL.
They thrived on slick, transition football that was easy on the eye. It even formed part of their pitch to Channel 7 boss Lewis Martin for more Friday night matches.
But against Collingwood they managed just seven points from the back half, compared to the Magpies’ 37.
Five Magpies racked up more than 300m gained – Jeremy Howe (433m), Jack Crisp (349m), Brayden Maynard (423m), Jordan De Goey (320m) and Brodie Mihocek (317m).
Bailey Williams (332m) was the only Bulldog to do so.
“You’ve got to give Collingwood a lot of credit for their intensity and their pressure, but the shame of it all is we couldn’t match it,” Beveridge said.
“Bit of a head-scratcher.”
JORDAN DE MIDFIELDER
Jordan De Goey is being reprogrammed and it is going to be a joy to watch. A player who made his mark on the AFL bursting out of the forward line is becoming a ballistic midfielder.
The signs were there in this month’s practice match in Morwell and they went to another level in Round 1.
De Goey attended 14 centre bounces (No.3 for Collingwood), won three centre clearances (No.2) and pumped the ball inside 50m six times (No.1).
“Jordy’s trained well, and he’s a gun player. He doesn’t have to win a lot of the ball to be influential,” Buckley said after a 14-disposal game that felt more like 25.
The explosive weapon gives the Magpies’ midfield brigade a point of difference and you suspect this season’s shortened quarters will only enhance Buckley’s desire to roll De Goey through the midfield.
SHARK PLAN GOES TO WATER
Brodie Grundy polled six Brownlow votes against the Dogs in 2019 and is odds-on to make it a perfect nine from their past three games at this year’s medal count.
But don’t go simply blaming raw ruckman Tim English for Grundy’s Round 1 masterclass.
“We pride ourselves on reading opposition inside strategy as well and our mids didn’t respond well enough,” Beveridge said.
“We just didn’t read his hits. It’s difficult with the bigger spikes – the outside hits – they’re difficult to read.
“The boys who played in there against (Grundy), not just Tim, they need to wear it.”
Grundy’s 179 SuperCoach points came courtesy of 19 disposals, 12 hit-outs to advantage, four clearances and nine score involvements.
Conversely, English finished with 10 disposals, one hitout to advantage, one clearance and one score involvement.
Grundy’s 13 contested possessions and four clearances were numbers no Bulldog could top.
Buckley has told his players that Grundy’s statistics are largely irrelevant because they don’t necessarily measure his impact on the Pies.
But on every metric this was another dominant display by the dual All-Australian.
List boss Ned Guy would’ve gone to sleep happy that the ink is dry on Grundy’s seven-year contract.
LIBBA TO EITHER FACE CARLTON OR GET THE BLUES
Western Bulldogs and Carlton want to play a 14-a-side scratch match next Friday – the day before their Round 2 clash – but are awaiting AFL approval.
The hitout between AFL-listed players shapes as the only way to feed match practice to players not in the best 22s, given state-leagues have been cancelled until May 31.
It’s problem for the AFL, and Beveridge articulated it perfectly through both the lens of players returning from injury, like Tom Liberatore, who hasn’t played since Round 20 last year but is back in full training, and draftees.
“Probably a 14-vs-14 (against Carlton) or something like that, so the boys can at least get a hitout against genuine opposition,” Beveridge said.
“We’ll understand if it can’t (happen), but it’ll make it really difficult. Tom’s been out of the game for a fair while … to put him in a game like tonight it would’ve been extremely challenging for him.
“That’s just one of the players involved in the comp.
“Talking to the brand new recruits (draftees) – Cody Weightman and Riley Garcia and Louis Butler – what a shame for the young guys to come into the competition and not even be able to play state-league footy and put your best foot forward.”
Beveridge said players outside the best 22 would have to essentially complete a “mini pre-season all over again” without approval to play mini scratch matches against other clubs.
“Which is a challenging one up here (pointing to his head) as much as the body,” he said.
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