Footscray smashes Collingwood to book VFL grand final berth
THE Western Bulldogs have continued their dream September with the club’s VFL side qualifying for the grand final as Friday night’s heroes watched on.
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SUCCESS-starved Western Bulldogs supporters are dreaming of history-making double after Footscray stormed into the VFL grand final yesterday.
It was a case of what the AFL team can do, the VFL side can do better, as the Bulldogs thrashed hot-favourite Collingwood by 119 points in yesterday’s preliminary final in front of 7000 at North Port Oval.
They meet the winner of Sunday’s other preliminary final between the Casey Scorpions and Williamstown in next Sunday’s grand final at Etihad Stadium.
The majority of the Bulldogs’ side which toppled the Hawks on Friday night was on hand to cheer on their teammates.
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Injured trio Robert Murphy, Lin Jong and Mitch Wallis watched on from the sidelines with Friday night heroes Clay Smith and Marcus Bontempelli.
Footscray will take on either Casey or Williamstown in the VFL grand final.
The architect of the Bulldogs’ 27.19 (181) to 9.8 (62) win was skipper Jordan Russell, playing in the last line of defence.
Russell, 29, who played 125 games with Collingwood and Carlton had 11 touches in the first quarter and finished the match with 24 disposals, six marks and four tackles.
He said after the match the Bulldogs had expected Collingwood to provide a much stronger presence.
He said the momentum and spirit of the AFL team’s win over Hawthorn had carried forward into Saturday.
“We have got a lot of our players back from injury in recent weeks,” he said.
Russell said he was hopeful midfielder Nathan Hrovat would be available for the grand final after being an eleventh hour scratching from the match with a shoulder injury.
Their other concern is half forward Liam Nash who was reported after crashed into Pie Jordan Kelly in the second quarter. Kelly jogged from the field but returned six minutes later.
Footscray coach Ash Hansen praised the team’s defence for providing relentless pressure.
“It’s the base style of our play,” he said. “It’s what we will have to apply in next week’s grand final.
The surprise packet in the Bulldogs’ win was 19-year-old recruit forward Ben Long from St Mary’s in Darwin.
Playing his sixth VFL match he booted five goals in the final quarter as the 23rd player to give him six in total. He is on the radar of AFL recruiting scouts.
Other Bulldog matchwinners were Lukas Webb (30 touches and three goals) and Mitch Honeychurch (28 disposals).
In the final quarter Collingwood was powerless to stop Footscray, which booted 10 goals to one to further humiliate coach Dale Tapping, who was last week named VFL coach of the year.
Also watching on were Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, senior coach Nathan Buckley and retired Magpie Dane Swan.
Collingwood lost retired 2010 AFL premiership defender Alan Toovey from the selected team with a back injury.
He announced his retirement recently along with midfielder Brent Macaffer, who was one his few good players with 23 touches along with defender Alan Oxley 26.
Collingwood big man Jarrod Witts, who made only two AFL appearances this year, could have played his final VFL game after being outplayed at centre bounces by Tom Campbell (16 hitouts and eight marks) and Will Minson (17 hitouts).
Originally published as Footscray smashes Collingwood to book VFL grand final berth
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