GWS Giants still have retribution in mind ahead of Round 3 clash with Western Bulldogs, Marcus Bontempelli
Western Bulldogs desperately need Marcus Bontempelli to help ignite their season when they host bitter rival GWS on Friday. But the Bulldogs skipper will have a target firmly on his back after an incident the Giants haven’t forgotten.
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It could be out of the frying pan into the fire for Marcus Bontempelli on Friday night.
Privately, the Giants have declared the Western Bulldogs skipper their Public Enemy No.1 for what he did to Nick Haynes in Round 22 last year.
Publicly, the Bulldogs made it known what they thought of Toby Greene's revenge attack on Bontempelli's face two weeks later in the elimination final.
Greene was fined $7500 for serious misconduct towards Bontempelli — and then suspended a week later after a similar incident involving Brisbane’s Lachie Neale.
In the supercharged final won by the Giants, Bontempelli found himself at the bottom of a pack with Greene’s fingers prowling around his face.
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The Bulldogs were furious at the attack.
The Giants, however, claimed Greene was victimised at the tribunal which, a week after the final, still riled Bulldogs president Peter Gordon.
“The focus for everyone at the moment is on Toby Greene and what’s happened and the comment his manager and the GWS have made that he’s the victim, he’s been victimised,'” Gordon said on ABC radio.
The Giants haven't forgotten Gordon's comments.
Nor have they forgotten what happened to Haynes.
They are bemused how the hot-headed Greene is painted as the thug, while Bontempelli is not for fracturing Haynes’ larynx.
Bontempelli was fined and not suspended for the late hit on Haynes, which the Bulldogs said was an accident.
“There was no malice and there was no intent,” coach Luke Beveridge said at the time. “Marcus’s intent was to close down space and to pressure and at no stage did he try to clean him up.”
The Giants didn't agree, notwithstanding Bont’s personal apology to Haynes.
It’s why Greene went after Bontempelli and, as an aside, Harry Himmelberg chimed in and was charged with striking Bontempelli.
Coincidence? Not likely.
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It all helps fuel a rivalry which borders on open hatred.
That's part of the backdrop to Friday night's clash — a night of reckoning for all manner of parties.
The Bulldogs need to make a statement to salvage an already flailing season.
From when the Giants bullied them in the final last year to St Kilda's embarrassingly easy win last week, the Bulldogs’ character has been questioned.
They need urgency, emotion and buy-in on the game plan most of all.
And when — and not if — the Giants again target Bontempelli, they need to support their new skipper, unlike their timid response when Greene went after him.
It's why Tom Liberatore, if fit, has to play on Friday night.
Libba's not an enforcer type, but he as hell will verbalise and antagonise the opposition, and not leave Bontempelli one-out when the aggression comes.
The captain can look after himself, but he shouldn't be required to do it alone.
Unquestionably, we’ll learn a lot about the Dogs tomorrow night.
The Giants aren't world beaters, mind you. They were broken by North Melbourne last week because of a combination of fierce pressure, smart tactics and, in the second half, greater spread and ball use.
If the Kangas can do it, why not the Bulldogs?
This rivalry is tantalising and absolute.
It started before the first-ever bounce when the Giants swiped Callan Ward from the Dogs with a deal too good for a 21-year-old too refuse.
The most recent reference came from former skipper Bob Murphy.
Last month, he detailed a “disrespectful” sledge from a Giants player made in the early days of the Giants’ life.
“We were frothing at the mouth, furious,” Murphy said on SEN.
“I reckon that’s where a little bit of the rivalry started.”
And, yes, those comments raised eyebrows at the Giants.
They remember the sledge, but they also remember how the Bulldogs and every team abused them in the first three years of their existence.
In between, there were spotfires.
The Dogs took Tom Boyd and the Giants took the Bulldogs skipper Ryan Griffen.
Leon Cameron, a former Bulldogs player, missed the Bulldogs coaching role — it went to Brendan McCartney — and became the Giants coach.
Jason McCartney was the Bulldogs list manager and help build the 2016 premiership team and is now head of football at the Giants.
And who can forget the preliminary final of 2016.
Just how deep this rivalry runs is evident by the fact the Giants still remember what was plastered on the Bulldogs banner before that game.
“Our club was born in blood and boots, not in AFL focus groups,” it read.