September pretenders? The Hawthorn ‘stranglehold’ that exposed Bevo’s Bulldogs

After what happened on Thursday night, the round 11 epic against Geelong must feel like a lifetime ago for Luke Beveridge. So, what – and who – do we believe?

Two weeks ago after the best home and away match in years, the Western Bulldogs were considered one of only four teams who could win the premiership.

Despite losing to Geelong in the epic Round 11 showdown, there was a consensus that a gap had opened up at the top with Collingwood, Brisbane, the Bulldogs and Cats levels above the rest.

That must feel like a lifetime ago for Luke Beveridge, whose team is now not even inside the eight with their top-four credentials again being questioned.

The basic explanation for what happened at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night was that an under-the-pump Hawks outfit, who had been challenged by their coach to be harder and tougher, responded against a Bulldogs unit who were coming off the bye and took 20 minutes to wake-up – the problem being the Hawks kicked five goals in that time and then held that margin for the rest of the night.

Marcus Bontempelli and the Bulldogs after the loss. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

It’s a well used fact which is thrown at the Dogs a lot that under Beveridge – they’ve never finished top four, even in their premiership year of 2016.

That leaves you vulnerable in September, which is what happened in last year’s elimination final when the Dogs started favourite against Hawthorn but had an off night and in the blink of an eye were out of the finals.

This season, their record against top eight sides is ugly. The loss to Hawthorn means they’re now 1-6 with GWS (seventh) the only highest-ranked side they’ve beaten.

That’s not the CV of a team capable of challenging. Sure, there may have been circumstances with injuries early in the season but what they served up against the Hawks only raised more questions about their legitimacy.

They came in the highest-scoring team in the competition and delivered just eight goals, their lowest score of the season.

That suspect bottom six which hadn’t been an issue for weeks, was an issue again.

Ryan Gardner and Lachlan McNeil had big moments they’d rather forget and should be playing VFL next week, Buku Khamis and Sam Davidson came back to the pack, while James Harmes and Lachie Bramble didn’t exactly inspire.

They were left more vulnerable than normal because of the strangely off nights from some of the Dogs key operators.

Tom Liberatore (14 touches) had his worst game for the season, Aaron Naughton continues to frustrate himself and everyone else, Adam Treloar was clearly underdone in his comeback game while Rhylee West had his first real stinker for the season.

Adam Treloar fires out a handpass under pressure Picture: Michael Klein

The Hawks celebrate a Jai Newcombe goal. Picture: Michael Klein

If it wasn’t for Rory Lobb, the Dogs would have lost by 10 goals.

In the first half, he saved them at centre-half back and then in the second-half he was moved forward and sparked a mini-comeback in the third quarter.

Beveridge said his players needed to make “big leaps” rather than margin incremental improvements to become a top-four side.

“What we have done against some of the better teams is we turn the ball over too often and too blatantly and that has put us on the back foot,” he said.

“It’s hard to get momentum when you’re doing that … that’s skill, that’s game sense.”

The Dogs coach used the term “stranglehold” to describe what Hawthorn did after his opposite number’s ploy of bringing the mouthguards to training paid off handsomely.

Sam Mitchell’s Hawks harassed and pressured the Bulldogs into mistakes, dominating at clearances thanks to an inspired Jai Newcombe (27 disposals, 15 contested, 10 clearances, six tackles, one goal).

At half-time, they had 14 more inside 50s and the inside 50 tackle count was 9-0.

The previous two weeks they’d barely laid a tackle, averaging 37 in the bad losses to Collingwood and Brisbane. By midway through the third quarter, they already had 50 and finished the game with an impressive 82.

The Hawks came with intent on Thursday night. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

Josh Weddle goal vs Bulldogs

There were plenty of Hawks putting up their hand with swingman Josh Weddle setting them alight in the first quarter, Mabior Chol helped himself to four goals, Josh Ward (28 possessions) is becoming a serious player, Lloyd Meek was big and strong in the ruck and Jack Ginnivan annoyingly good (23 possessions and two goals).

Veteran Jack Gunston said a change in attitude had been the secret to the form turnaround against the Dogs.

“I guess when you go back and value the right things and focus on the defensive side of the game, it can promote the rest of your game,” he said.

“Once we looked at the tape last week (against Collingwood) we realised the things that we weren’t doing which make us a good footy team. You just have these lapses where you focus on other things because you think they’re what you should be doing.

“But when you narrow it down and realise all your Hawks footy flows off the back of good defensive acts, that's something we need to narrow our focus on.”

Gunston said the Hawks had done well to navigate the first half of the season with eight wins despite opposition clubs being more across the way they played.

“We probably surprised a few teams last year, we played a way I guess no-one had scouted us before,” he said. “This year they were ready for the way we play, it’s a matter of going out and executing but all in all the last three weeks was all down to pressure and what we do without the footy.

“No matter how well we thought we moved the ball, if you don’t go out and tackle it’s pretty hard to stop other teams from scoring.”