Giants pay price for losing sight of bigger picture against Bulldogs
From the moment Giants skipper Stephen Coniglio sent Nick Haynes to take care of coin toss duties, it was already on.
From the moment Giants skipper Stephen Coniglio sent Nick Haynes to take care of coin toss duties, it was already on.
From there, it was always going to be a dogfight.
The Western Bulldogs live to fight another day as they notched their first victory of the season, 8.9 (57) to 4.9 (33) after a strong response, but it wasn’t without a heavy dose of Friday night spite.
Football’s newest hottest rivalry had some spice added last August when Haynes suffered a throat injury against the Dogs after a Marcus Bontempelli hit.
Bontempelli escaped sanction and Haynes sustained a fractured larynx but later forgave the Dogs skipper, but to say the feeling remains is an understatement.
The toss was a move that Giants defender Phil Davis said at quarter-time was simply to develop leadership for other players like Haynes.
OK. If you say so, Phil.
Tagger Matt de Boer had the job on Bontempelli and didn’t even wait for the first bounce to dial up the physicality with the Dogs skipper in every Giant’s sights.
“It does look like the Giants are putting Marcus Bontempelli’s head on a plate tonight,” Brownlow medallist Chris Judd said on Triple M.
But it shouldn’t have been taken as a compliment, according to the premiership star.
“I’d be offended that the opposition team thought that that sort of stuff would put me off my game … and I’d be laser-focused to make sure that it doesn’t,” Judd said, later questioning whether the tactics had distracted the Giants more than it had the Dogs as they lagged.
It boiled over at three-quarter time with every player in for a melee that will not have gone unnoticed by the match review panel and will no doubt come at a cost.
It was 320 days between outings for Tom Liberatore, but he hadn’t lost his touch. Every time he went near the ball, things just happened. He had 18 touches, with a little bit of trademark cheekiness along the way. With a ruffle of Coniglio’s well-coiffured do, he was back.
And the blows keep coming for the Giants. First, Toby Greene. Then Josh Kelly before the warm-up. Then, Lachie Whitfield at quarter-time.
Already without Tim Taranto, the Giants’ trip south wasn’t without casualties that left them exposed in the middle. Kelly was a late withdrawal due to calf tightness, replaced by Jackson Hately, while Lachie Whitfield was left dazed in a clash with Bulldogs forward Aaron Naughton.
He was assessed for concussion at quarter-time and didn’t feature again, with Naughton to come under the scrutiny of match review officer Michael Christian on Saturday.
HERALD SUN
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