Western Bulldogs suffer cruel blow to AFL premiership hopes

The Western Bulldogs suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the Essendon Bombers on Sunday afternoon but the bad news didn’t end there.

The Bulldogs’ minor premiership hopes are under threat. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

The Western Bulldogs’ flag tilt has been dealt a significant blow after key forward Josh Bruce went down with a serious knee injury late in an upset loss to Essendon on Sunday.

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said the club’s medics feared Bruce had ruptured his ACL late in the fourth quarter of the 13-point loss to the Bombers at Marvel Stadium.

The 29-year-old is having one of the best years of his career and booted three goals on Sunday to move up to second on the Coleman Medal leaderboard, 10 goals behind Carlton’s Harry McKay.

But his stellar season now appears over after he hobbled from ground in what would be a significant blow for the Dogs’ premiership push.

“It’s not looking good,” Beveridge said after the game.

“Our guys will confirm what the outcome is after a scan tomorrow.

“We don’t know the extent of it (yet), you get ones that surprise you so we’ll still hold out a bit of hope.”

Beveridge said his side would have to “dig deep” to cover Bruce if his season was indeed over.

“We might have to do it a bit of a different way as we have in the past,” he said.

“That affects your decisions, probably your ball use going inside 50 a bit more but that’s the challenge of this caper … finding a way when the template changes.

“(Jamarra Ugle-Hagan), what’s he played, five games now, is he ready to rip apart the last two games and a finals series, we’ll I don’t think any young key forward has done that.”

Beveridge said young defender Josh Schache also suffered a jarred knee but it looked like he would be OK for next week.

In some positive injury news for the ladder leaders, key defender Alex Keath could return from a hamstring injury as early as next week in a welcome boost for the Dogs after Bombers tall Peter Wright booted seven goals on Sunday.

“He’s due back most likely (round 23) with a small window he could be available this week, we’ll just see,” Beveridge said.

“When the form came around to nominate your All-Australians, Alex should definitely be in that frame, he’s had an outstanding year for us.”

Beveridge said his side was “very inefficient” in the loss to the Bombers which has given Melbourne a chance to take back top spot with a win against West Coast on Monday night.

“We were really inefficient and they were very efficient, too clean out of the centre bounce,” he said.

“We couldn’t defend obviously big Peter Wright and he kicked extraordinarily well.”

Essendon’s Jake Stringer was among those to assist Bruce after he was struck down by injury. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Essendon tall Peter Wright produced the game of his life to keep the Bombers in touch with the top eight in a huge upset over ladder leaders the Western Bulldogs.

‘Two-metre Peter’, who crossed to the Bombers from the Gold Coast at the end of last season, kicked seven goals from nearly as many kicks as Essendon stormed to a 13-point win at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.

The Bombers snapped a two-game losing streak and sat just two points outside the top eight at the end of the match as the Bulldogs missed a chance to consolidate top spot in their quest for the club’s first minor premiership in its history.

Having lost their past six games against the Bulldogs by an average margin of 54 points, the Bombers rode home on the coat tails of Wright who hardly looked like missing in a career-best performance.

It was the Bulldogs who started hot in the first term, dominating both the contested ball and inside 50 counts to get out to a two-goal lead at quarter time.

Their star midfield of Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae and Tom Liberatore all got plenty of the footy to give the Dogs good field position in the opening quarter.

With their season potentially on the line, the Dons upped the pressure in the second term as they fought back into the contest with three straight goals.

Bombers ruckman Peter Wright nailed three second quarter majors as Essendon grabbed the ascendancy to have the ladder leaders under significant pressure.

The Bulldogs squandered a number of opportunities in front of goal before the main break with experienced forwards Josh Bruce and Aaron Naughton both spraying shots wide before Anthony Scott missed a chance to put the Bulldogs back in front right on the half time siren.

It was a seesawing contest in the third quarter as both sides traded goals, but it was the Bombers who grabbed the momentum heading into the final quarter with two late goals.

Wright (L) became the first player since 2015 to kick seven goals against the team atop the AFL ladder (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Wright target

Young ruck Peter Wright set the game alight in the second quarter as the Bombers booted six goals in the term to take the lead at the main break.

The 24-year-old was too much to handle for the Bulldogs backs in the air, taking a couple of strong contested grabs and nailing three second quarter goals as Essendon stormed back into the contest.

Wright finished with a career-high seven goals for the day, with Aaron Francis (two goals) and Sam Draper also adding a goal each in the second term as the Dogs struggled to control the Bombers talls in the absence of injured key defender Alex Keath.

Draper also dominated Tim English in the ruck battle with 23 hit outs in the first half, including a stunning 20-metre hit out that hit Dylan Shiel on the chest at full speed who launched the Bombers inside 50.

Treloar’s boost

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge must have been itching to get Adam Treloar back into the side after the star midfielder missed most of the second half of the year with an ankle injury.

Treloar had an instant impact, finding the ball within the first minute of the game, and although his first kick sailed out on the full, he found plenty of the footy with six touches in the opening term to help the Dogs grab an early lead.

He then popped up with a steadying goal midway through the second quarter as Essendon gained the ascendancy and threatened to pull away.

Treloar finished with 22 touches and a goal and was one of the few positives for Dogs as they went down in an upset loss.

Zach Merrett (L) and Marcus Bontempelli (R) were among the most prolific users of the footy for their respective sides. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Dogs kicking woes

Josh Bruce moved up to third in the race for the Coleman Medal but he could have taken more of a chunk out of Carlton’s Harry McKay’s lead.

Bruce nailed two early goals but could have had five or six for the day if it wasn’t for spraying a number of shots across the face from close range.

Aaron Naughton also had a day to forget in front of the sticks as he also missed three gettable set shots as the Western Bulldogs’ goal kicking woes returned.

The Bulldogs could easily have been in front at three quarter time but kicked four behinds to finish the term as the Bombers took an 11 point lead into the final change.