AFL round 18: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era after loss to Sydney

The Bulldogs’ loss to Sydney has brought them back to the pack of the battle for finals, but with the depth of talent available to Luke Beveridge, have he and the club missed their window?

MELBOURNE – July 7: AFL. Luke Beveridge, Senior Coach of the Bulldogs at 3\\4 time during the round 17 AFL match between Western Bulldogs and Collingwood at Marvel Stadium on July 7, 2023. Photo by Michael Klein.

Luke Beveridge’s Western Bulldogs have been accused of squandering a top-four list as the premiership coach is forced into another rejig of his besieged backline.

The Dogs could be out of the eight by the end of the round after coughing up an inexplicable loss to Sydney despite dominating hit-outs, inside-50s and clearances as Tim English, Aaron Naughton and Marcus Bontempelli ran amok.

Josh Bruce (19 disposals, eight marks) looks set to replace James O’Donnell (concussion) after a strong VFL hitout against Sydney on Friday afternoon, while Rory Lobb (15 disposals, 10 hit-outs) should replace Sam Darcy.

Darcy stayed in Sydney on Thursday night to be assessed after the corked quad bled heavily and was in a knee brace and on crutches out of extra precaution.

The Dogs said his only injury was the corked quad, which saw him subbed out in the third quarter.

He is likely to miss multiple weeks in his latest setback this season alone after a hole in his lung and broken jaw this year and a foot stress fracture that saw his debut delayed last season.

Bailey Smith will have recovered from a flu that saw him missing against Sydney by Monday, when the players return to Whitten Oval, and will play against the Dons.

Aaron Naughton is dejected after the Bulldogs’ loss on Thursday night.

But his diminishing returns pushed to half forward are representative of a team that is not quite as good as the sum of its parts.

The club’s chief executive Ameet Bains said on July 1 the club had the makings of a top-four list, adamant it was stacked with talent.

“Yeah we do. They haven’t all played consistently at the level but if you look at the nucleus of that team — Tim, Marcus, a few other players, they are going as well as anyone in the competition. You build a side around that.”

But leading analyst David King wondered after the loss whether the Dogs were “frittering away” their talent in a year where they would have to replicate their 2016 heroics to win the flag.

“Let’s cut to the chase. They have got one of the game’s greatest players for the last decade in their team, they are well supported forward of centre with good talls, got a good system, been around the mark for a couple of years now,” he told FoxFooty.

“Are they frittering away a great list? A great opportunity because they could find themselves out of the eight after round 18. You wouldn’t have thought that would have been the case.

“They are hard to win and they bucked the trend in 2016 but the only way to win them is finish top four and they haven’t done that and how they haven’t done that no one knows?

“They are well led by the captain. Their midfield is super strong, they have a high handball game which seems to work and they can’t defend. Without Liam Jones down there they looked a little rudderless. I don’t have the answer and I don’t know if Luke has the answer of their hierarchy but this is a top four list at minimum.”

BEVO FIRES WARNING SHOT TO UNDERPERFORMING DOGS

Ben Horne

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has sent a subtle warning shot to underperforming players after his side was once again unable to stop a flood of goals.

After giving up 10 of 11 goals after a bright start against Collingwood last week, the Bulldogs once again undid much of their hard work by leaking six of seven goals to the Swans through the second quarter and after halftime.

Beveridge is adamant his team can still get on a charge towards the finals despite the fact the Bulldogs could now find themselves outside the top eight by the end of the round after the agonising 78-76 defeat to Sydney at the SCG.

Although the coach stopped short of naming names, Beveridge made it clear there are key individuals who need to lift if the Bulldogs are to go with skipper Marcus Bontempelli and make a finals run.

“It wasn’t as big a run of goals as last week, but ultimately … when you’re reading that momentum you’re asking yourself, ‘why is it happening?’” Beveridge said.

“Is it because as a collective we’re not doing something together, or has there been a couple of individual moments that have cost the team? And it was the latter.

“One or two boys who just didn’t have good nights and we fed them some easy goals that we didn’t get from them.”

The Dogs blew another chance to entrench themselves in the top eight. (Photo by Matt King/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

The Bulldogs’ bombed a golden opportunity against a struggling Swans team to move to fifth on the ladder and seriously challenge for a top four berth.

Now they’re bracing to be swamped by the logjam of teams in the middle of the ladder jostling for the final spots in the eight.

But Beveridge is refusing to panic.

“We’re still confident we can win every week,” Beveridge said.

“It’s still a long way out. So we’ve just got to focus on Essendon and put together another strong team to play against them this week.”

Beveridge lamented the loss of key defensive players James O’Donnell (concussion) and Sam Darcy (cork) and believes it ultimately was the difference in the match as the Swans’ forward line eventually exposed their loss in size.

“Losing the two keys in James and Sam was going to be difficult to cover and I think that told in the end with their bigger forwards,” Beveridge said.

“They started to mark it. We only had the two talls and we couldn’t quite defend some of those balls and it was costly.

“Credit to Sydney. The intensity in the game and the fight from both teams was credible.

“If we had won they’d say it was one that got away and we probably feel like that. At the end I still thought we were going to win it.

“It’s really disappointing from that point of view.”

DOGS’ TOP FOUR HOPES IN TATTERS AS SWANS STAY IN FINALS RACE

Sydney has kept its flickering finals hopes alive and at the same time dealt the Western Bulldogs’ top eight chances a crushing blow with a pulsating 2-point triumph at the SCG.

Swans ace Tom Papley kicked four goals including two in the final quarter as the hosts roared home 78-76 in a final term where the lead changed five times.

Sydney players mobbed John Longmire on the boundary line after play in recognition of his 300th game as an AFL coach, but the biggest gift to the coach was the jump from 15th to 11th on the AFL ladder, with dreams of a miracle finals berth still alive.

The Bulldogs on the other hand missed a golden opportunity to lift to fifth on the ladder and press for a top four finish, and now are bracing to be mired in a logjam of teams fighting for the bottom places in the eight.

The Swans got the win in John Longmire’s 300th game as coach. Photo by Phil Hillyard

Sydney’s uplifting win in front of 26,221 fans came despite the dominance of Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli, who finished with 31 disposals and two goals.

Aaron Naughton also kicked three for the Bulldogs but they let a dominant first quarter go to waste.

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan had put the Bulldogs in front with five minutes left, but that lead only lasted a minute as Papley capitalised on a Swans full-field surge.

BUDDY BRILLIANT

If this is Lance Franklin’s farewell tour, the all-time great added another moment to his endless highlights reel on Thursday night.

On the stroke of halftime Franklin took a one-handed mark as easy as if he were catching a tennis ball thrown from a few yards, yet another example of his incredible skill for a big man.

Franklin then piloted through the goal after the halftime siren had sounded to give Sydney their first lead of the match.

While it’s obvious Franklin is still very capable of the big moment, he did miss a couple of key shots on goal in the final quarter.

The Swans announced mid-match that it had broken its all-time membership record and passed 62,000 members.

The swelling of those numbers over the past decade is in no small part due to the superstardom of Franklin.

Franklin was instrumental in the victory. (Photo by Matt King/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

ENGLISH SPEAKING ALL AUSTRALIAN

Bulldogs ruckman Tim English feasted on Sydney’s decision to axe Tom Hickey from the line-up, as he completely dominated clearances at the SCG.

English moved a step closer to All Australian selection and served a blow to any hope of St Kilda’s Rowan Marshall surpassing him.

The 208 metre giant was on fire all match, although the Swans did stage an exceptional second quarter fightback thanks to an off the charts pressure game.

Sydney’s pressure in the second quarter was rated 244 by Champion Data. With 180 considered the AFL average, and 190 high – it was an unbelievable effort from the Swans and stopped the Bulldogs’ in their tracks.

James O'Donnell looks worse for wear after a collision 🤕

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BIG HIT AT SCG FOR O’DONNELL

The Western Bulldogs rallied around young star James O’Donnell after he was subbed out of the match with concussion following a sickening clash with Sydney’s Sam Wicks.

It was nearly 40 years ago that father Simon O’Donnell played his last Test match at the SCG, where he was out there for the winning runs in a famous win for Australia against New Zealand in the shadows of stumps on day five.

Unfortunately it was a very different kind of hit for 20-year-old James who came off second best in a heavy contest collision and was subbed out for Riley Garcia.

Bulldog Sam Darcy also failed to finish the night with a cork to his thigh.

Sydney also had its own casualty ward woes with the injury-prone Lewis Melican suffering a hamstring injury in the third quarter and subbed out for Ryan Clarke.

Melican, who missed matches earlier in the season with an adductor, threw his mouthguard into the turf in disgust as the realisation of another injury setback set in.

SYDNEY 2.3 6.7 8.9 11.12 (78)

WESTERN BULLDOGS 5.4 6.4 9.6 11.10 (76)

HORNE’S VOTES

3 – M. Bontempelli (WBD)

2 – T. Papley (SYD)

1 – E. Gulden (SYD)

BEST

Sydney – Errol Gulden, Tom Papley, Oliver Florent, Luke Parker, James Rowbottom

Western Bulldogs – Marcus Bontempelli, Tim English, Adam Treloar, Tom Liberatore, Ed Richards

GOALS

Sydney – Tom Papley (4), Lance Franklin (2), Oliver Florent (2), James Rowbottom (1), Isaac Heeney (1), Joel Amartey (1)

Western Bulldogs – Aaron Naughton (3), Marcus Bontempelli (2), Cody Weightman (1), Laitham Vandermeer (1), Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (1), Anthony Scott (1), Caleb Poulter (1), Tom Liberatore (1)

UMPIRES: Jamie Broadbent, Hayden Gavine, Simon Meredith, Justin Power

GROUND: Sydney Cricket Ground

CROWD: 26,221

Originally published as AFL round 18: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era after loss to Sydney