AFL Round 10 GWS v Western Bulldogs: Giant questions raised after Bulldogs’ best win over the year

It certainly wasn’t pretty, but the Bulldogs have registered their best win of the season, writes Lachlan McKirdy. And, in the process, asked big questions of Adam Kingsley.

Lachlan McKirdy

@LMcKirdy7

3 min read

May 19, 2024 - 9:46AM

News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom

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It certainly wasn’t pretty, but the Bulldogs have registered their best win of the season and put a further dent in the Giants’ premiership aspirations.

As footy returned to Western Sydney for the first time in two months, the wet conditions ensured it wouldn’t be a game to write home about. But the desperation of two sides fighting through form slumps was on display with the Dogs pushing through some poor kicking to register a relatively comfortable victory.

The Giants struggled to gain any ascendancy in the early stages as the Dogs won the territory battle. The hosts’ transition game was shut down and the ball was locked in GWS’ defensive areas.

Luke Beveridge’s side were relentless in pushing the game forward but couldn’t capitalise. Despite losing the inside 50 count by 12 in the first term, key goals to Toby Greene and Jesse Hogan handed the Giants an early lead.

James Harmes celebrates during the win over GWS. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

There were signs that the Giants were closing in on the famed orange tsunami, but it lacked the clinical edge. Despite winning the uncontested possessions, they over-handballed for most of the match and tried to be too cute with the ball when the conditions dictated they should just go long.

“I thought our players adapted really well, we don’t usually play a really surge, grubby, sort of game,” Beveridge said of how his side played the conditions.

“I think the boys did a brilliant job, adjusting to win the territory battle and goals were really hard to come by.”

The Bulldogs’ sheer weight of opportunities meant that momentum eventually tipped in their favour. Goals to Jamara Ugle-Hagan, Laitham Vandermeer and Rylee West quickly put the visitors in the lead when scoring was hard to come by.

The amount of possession threatened to overwhelm the Giants who couldn’t find any easy outlets when moving the ball off halfback. Thankfully, Hogan’s marking ability kept them in the game.

Whether it was coming down to the wing or taking contested marks in the goal square, his two goals in the second term ensured the Giants were in touching distance despite having far fewer opportunities.

After the main break, the story continued with the Dogs happy to rely on winning the dirty ball at the contest. They had seven scoring shots to three in the third term, but inaccuracy again proved costly as they only kicked 1.6.

The Giants should have been out of the game far earlier than they were. West and Naughton combined to hit the post on back-to-back efforts in the final term as their score ballooned to 5.19. But a sliding mark and finish from James Harmes opened up a game-high 24-point lead.

Marcus Bontempelli was kept in check by Callan Ward for most of the afternoon. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Jesse Hogan kept the Giants in the game. Picture: Matt King/AFL Photos

GWS had its chances. Toby Bedford spurned a few gilt-edged opportunities, including kicking out on the full when he had Aaron Cadman wide open in the forward 50. A late goal to Greene gave the home fans some optimism, but Naughton’s first of the afternoon wrapped up the four points.

As Adam Kingsley paced around the dugout, his face was a picture of frustration. His team were unable to lock any ball in their forward half and lacked any killer edge with ball in hand.

The scoreboard was flattering by the final siren. The 27-point win should have been so much more with the Dogs finishing with 8.22.

The result continued their dominance over the Giants with only one loss in the past five seasons, but it also ensured last year’s preliminary finalists fell to four losses in their past five matches.

“We’re a little bit unreliable with some, some aspects of our game at the moment and contest is certainly one of them. We’re having good moments, but we’re unable to sustain that for long enough,” Kingsley said post-match.

“We’ve got to get our backsides in gear,” he said, “we’ve started the season really well, but our last month of footy hasn’t been at the same level and as I’ve spoken about, there are a couple of little things where we’ve become a little bit unreliable.”

“There’s a there’s a log jam between that middle part of the ladder that we’re a part of now and we need to make sure that we keep our heads above water as best as we can.”

GWS has made a lot of positive steps in the 18 months since Kingsley has been in charge. But getting his side out of this current slump is set to be his toughest challenge yet.