Western Bulldogs hold off last-quarter surge from Carlton despite seven goals from Charlie Curnow
Western Bulldogs held off a last-quarter surge from a Charlie Curnow-inspired Carlton to win a three-point thriller at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
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The Bulldogs brought the scalpel, the Blues bought the baseball bat.
In a thrilling game of wild momentum swings, both took turns smashing each other.
The Dogs’ high-possession keep-ball game dominated this game to half time and for the first half of the last term.
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Carlton’s rollicking attack, led by rampant seven-goal star Charlie Curnow, throttled it in the third quarter and the last 15 minutes of the fourth.
At the end of it all, the Bulldogs hung on to win their first game in more than a month, 15.13 (103) to 15.10 (100).
How do you make sense of a game in which the Dogs led by 34 points 18 minutes into the second quarter, only for the Blues to hold a seven-point lead seven minutes into the third?
What of a game where the Dogs are again up by 34 points at the 20-minute mark of the last quarter, but the Blues kick five goals in seven minutes to get within three points and have a chance to snatch it at the death?
Perhaps you can’t.
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Dogs fans go home taking a deep sigh of relief and while the Blues faithful would be bitter — some even bought gaffer tape to cover their mouths — they would know they’re building something.
Symbolically, Curnow’s ballistic seven-goal game was matched by Josh Dunkley’s 41-disposal, 10-tackle, six-clearance grinder.
And that was the difference. The Dogs did it for longer — barely.
MACRAE V CRIPPS V BONTEMPELLI V CURNOW
Luke Beveridge was always going to send someone to patrick Cripps, but it was a surprise that “someone” was ball magnet Jack Macrae.
It worked, with Macrae keeping Cripps to 22 touches and eight clearances, while having 37 himself.
With Cripps under control early, Marcus Bontempelli feasted on 14 first quarter possessions before Teague decided that was enough and ordered Ed Curnow to put the shackles on after quarter-time.
The Bont only touched the ball six times across the next two quarters before starting the last at full-forward, where it must be said, he was damaging.
Makes you wonder though, doesn’t it?
LIBBA’S KNEE
Tom Liberatore’s week didn’t end as good as it started.
The Bulldog ball-winner signed a tidy two-year contract extension to stay at the kennel earlier this week.
But last night his game ended 10 minutes into the second quarter with what the Dogs said was bone jarring in his right knee — worryingly, the same knee he had reconstructed last year.
He will have scans.
BRING THE TAPE
Carlton supporters fearful their anger at the footy might get them evicted decided to take matters into their own hands.
Some Blues fans went as far as gaffer-taping their own mouths before venting their fury.
Whatever works, it seems.
BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
Hard to imagine anything one coaching group could do to surprise the other in this game.
That’s probably unsurprising when the Dogs are playing the Blues for the third time in 14 games.
Put it down to a good old “fixturing quirk”. These two met in Round 22 last year (Dogs won by 17) and Round 5 this year (Blues by 44) before last night’s match.
SUPERSTAR SHOW WORTH PRICE OF ADMISSION
Glenn McFarlane
Watching a superstar in action is worth the price of admission alone; getting the chance to see two of them in the one night makes that doubly so.
It’s even better when their dominance - just like that of their teams - oscillates wildly across a game, as it did tonight for Bulldogs midfielder Marcus Bontempelli and Carlton star Patrick Cripps.
They didn’t play on each other - they had their own shadows in Ed Curnow and Jack Macrae - but both were compulsory viewing.
The highs and lows of their games helped to turn the wheels of their club’s fortunes throughout the night.
First, it was Bontempelli who looked unstoppable, having 14 disposals in the opening term. That came as Cripps struggled to have his usual impact on the game, being restricted to only eight possessions by half-time.
Then, for a period, it flipped.
When the Bulldogs star wrested the first clearance of the second term, helping to drive his team into attack again, it was the trigger for Blues interim coach David Teague to make the change the fans wanted.
He immediately switched Ed Curnow - fresh from his role on Lachie Neale - onto Bontempelli.
Curnow worked hard to starve him of access to the ball, and for a time it worked.
That coincided with the Blues’ third-term revival, as Cripps started to get his hands on the ball more.
The Blues skipper wasn’t anywhere near as good as he was against the Lions last week, but worked hard to get himself - and his team - back into the game.
In that third term, he almost double his possession count - seven for the quarter - while Bont only had two.
Carlton breathed some new life into the contest, turning around what had been a 34-point deficit during the second term into a seven-point third term lead after Charlie Curnow nailed the fifth of his career-best seven goals.
Then Bontempelli, who pushed forward for a period, and the Dogs dragged it back and looked to the game beyond any doubt with a clutch of goals that pushed the margin back out beyond five goals again.
But wait there was more.
The Blues kept coming, thanks to Cripps in the middle, and a rampant Charlie Curnow providing a massive target in attack.
They stormed back to within three points with three minutes to go following Curnow’s seventh goal.
But time ran out for a gutsy Carlton when a free kick was paid to the Dogs in the Blues’ attack just before the final siren, much to the ire of their fans.
Two superstars on display in the one night - and the potential emergence of another (in Charlie Curnow) - was worth the entry price.
The full-throated Blues fans went home angry with the umpires, but hopeful about their team’s future prospects.
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