Bontempelli carries Bulldogs to important win; Demons outlast Suns; Dockers thump Hawks

In today’s AFL Briefing, your daily wrap of footy news:

• Melbourne held out a charging Gold Coast Suns to win a thrilling game at Heritage Bank stadium, with Darcy Macpherson missing a chance to level the scores with 20 seconds remaining.
• Nat Fyfe made his highly-anticipated return, but it was Luke Jackson who was the star of the show as Fremantle posted a 69-point win over Hawthorn at Optus Stadium.
• A mammoth night from captain Marcus Bontempelli has helped the Western Bulldogs crack the top eight for the first time this season in a 13.8 (86) to 10.11 (71) win against GWS.

Bontempelli carries Bulldogs to important win

Alex Mitchell, AAP

A mammoth night from captain Marcus Bontempelli has helped the Western Bulldogs crack the top eight for the first time this season in a 13.8 (86) to 10.11 (71) win against GWS.

In driving rain at Manuka Oval, the Giants again failed to roll over but couldn’t snap their eight-game losing run in the capital, with skipper Toby Greene withdrawn from the side late with an ankle injury.

Career-high numbers in contested possessions (25) and clearances (14) saw Bontempelli show the dynamism that makes him arguably the game’s best player, putting the team on his shoulders to carry them to an important win.

But he traded blows with emerging GWS bull Tom Green, who posted his own career highs with 38 touches and three goals back on his home Canberra turf.

Four straight goals to start the second half saw the Dogs burn their opponents off, although the Giants returned the favour in the final term’s first 11 minutes to keep themselves in the fight just 10 points down.

It set up a grandstand finish, but back-to-back majors from Bulldogs key forward Aaron Naughton iced the game off.

Much was made of GWS coach Adam Kingsley’s potential inclination to send a hard tag to Bontempelli but he had free rein early and helped himself to 15 contested possessions, 10 clearances, six inside 50s and a goal in a monstrous first half.

Marcus Bontempelli and Rory Lobb celebrate a goal. Credit: Mark Metcalfe, AFL Photos

The Bulldogs shared the load up forward with nine individual goalkickers and their power trio of Naughton, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Rory Lobb found six between them despite the wet conditions, while a young excitement machine led the way early.

Sixth-gamer Arthur Jones kicked two goals in a lively cameo, his high-energy play inside 50 helping them pinch a 10-point quarter-time break.

Greene’s absence clearly hurt the Giants and they lacked efficiency inside 50, veteran Callan Ward stepping up to kick two goals before Green hit the scoreboard late to give his side a lifeline.

Midfield supremos Lachie Whitfield and Josh Kelly racked up 65 disposals between them, while running defenders Lachie Ash (28 touches) and Connor Idun (28) were particularly damaging.

In eight games under Kingsley, the Giants haven’t sustained a final margin of more than 21 points, but still have a 3-5 record.

A potential hamstring injury for midfielder Adam Treloar that saw him immediately subbed out of the game was the only major negative for the Bulldogs.

Jackson leads Dockers to win over Hawks

Justin Chadwick, AAP

Nat Fyfe made his highly-anticipated return, but it was Luke Jackson who was the star of the show as Fremantle posted a 69-point win over Hawthorn at Optus Stadium.

Fyfe, who had been sidelined since round one with a plantar fasciitis injury, was subbed into Saturday night’s game with less than seven minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Fremantle had already built a 55-point lead by that stage, and the home side cruised to the 18.9 (117) to 7.6 (48) victory in front of 37,160 fans.

Fyfe finished with 10 disposals, two clearances and a goal playing a mix of midfield and forward-line duties, but more importantly he made it through the match unscathed.

“It was nice to be back out there,” Fyfe told Fox Sports.

“It’s a bit easier when the team’s [nine] goals up when you step onto the field.”

Jackson played his best game since joining the Dockers, tallying 24 disposals, six marks, seven tackles, four clearances and two goals.

His two majors from contested marks in the third quarter helped break the game wide open, and his work around the ground was also a highlight.

Luke Jackson in action during round eight. Credit: Paul Kane, Getty Images

Saturday’s win improved Fremantle’s record to 3-5, but their finals credentials will be severely tested over the next three weeks when they take on Sydney (SCG), Geelong (Optus Stadium) and Melbourne (MCG).

Andrew Brayshaw was prolific on the way to 33 disposals and two goals, while Michael Frederick and Jye Amiss booted three goals apiece.

Hawthorn trio Will Day, Conor Nash and James Worpel combined for 21 clearances.

But it was an otherwise disappointing effort from the Hawks, who are now 1-7 and last on the ladder.

Fremantle lost the centre clearance count 12-3 and the inside 50s 29-19 in the first half, but their efficiency in attack ensured they went into the main break with a 31-point lead.

Dockers goalsneak Michael Frederick needed medical treatment after being crunched by Sam Frost early, but he was able to return, and he kicked a clever checkside goal that gave Fremantle a 13-point lead at quarter time.

It marked the first time since round 21 last year that Fremantle had won an opening term, ending a barren run of 11 straight matches.

Frost continued to be a battering ram in the second quarter, cleaning up Lachie Schultz while pulling off a remarkable defensive spoil in the goal square.

But the Hawthorn defender produced a moment of madness later in the term, giving up a 50m penalty when he needlessly pushed Amiss after the Dockers forward had taken a mark.

The resultant goal stretched the margin to 25 points, and Fremantle led by as much as 37 before a late goal to Chad Wingard gave Hawthorn something to cling to at half-time.

Fremantle broke the game open in the third term, with Jackson booting two goals from contested marks as the lead ballooned out.

Fyfe was given a rousing reception when he was subbed into the contest at the expense of Josh Treacy.

The two-time Brownlow medallist went straight to the forward line, and he sent the crowd wild when he snapped a clever goal in the final quarter.

Demons dig deep to overcome unrelenting Suns

Andrew Stafford

Melbourne held out a charging Gold Coast Suns to win a thrilling game at Heritage Bank stadium, with Darcy Macpherson missing a chance to level the scores with 20 seconds remaining.

It was a fierce and often ill-tempered contest, with skirmishes breaking out frequently, Suns defender Charlie Ballard carried off late with a neck injury, and finished with the umpires being booed from the ground by a fully engaged home crowd. Ballard will undergo a precautionary scan, but the club was confident he’d be okay.

The Suns were missing their best player in Touk Miller, one of their best kicks in Lachie Weller, and important small forwards Ben Ainsworth and Nick Holman. Yet by half-time they held a decisive advantage at ground level, in both clearances and contested possessions.

That was against Melbourne’s vaunted midfield of Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney. Matt Rowell had five clearances to his name by quarter-time, and Noah Anderson continued his steady rise into the elite bracket of AFL midfielders.

But it was in the air that Melbourne had the ascendancy. Suns captain Jarrod Witts was a match for Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy at stoppages, but it was when the gun Demons rucks went forward that the real damage was done.

That is exactly why Grundy was recruited from Collingwood. By half-time the pair had three goals between them, and were clearly on the lookout for each other. Otherwise, the Dees had a wider spread of contributors, with seven goalkickers to half-time.

The last of them, to Alex Neal-Bullen with just seconds on the clock, took some air from the Suns’ tyres as they kept up the challenge, maintaining a seven-point margin at the main change, and Kysaiah Pickett’s second within a minute of the restart extended it.

The Suns, though, weren’t going down without a big fight. Ben King got lucky: held to barely a touch by Steven May, he took full advantage of two free kicks, the second of them on the stroke of three-quarter time to tie things up.

It took a freakish effort by Petracca to break the deadlock, poaching the ball off a stoppage and hooking through a snap from nearly 40 metres off a step. A free kick against Levi Casboult 100 metres off the ball gifted another to Gawn.

That should have sunk the Suns, but they came again, Anderson capping a best-on-ground performance with a goal to drag them back, and Rosas’ fourth made the Demons fight to the wire to save the game.

Gold Coast Suns 3.3 7.4 11.6 13.7 (85)
Melbourne 4.4 8.5 11.6 13.12 (90)

Goals
Gold Coast Suns: Rosas 4, Chol 2, Casboult 2, King 2, Lukosius, Ellis, Anderson.
Melbourne: Grundy 2, Pickett 2, Gawn 2, van Rooyen, Chandler, Jordon, Neal-Bullen, Bowey, Sparrow, Petracca.

Kysaiah Pickett of the Demons celebrates a goal. Credit: Russell Freeman, Getty Images

Best
Gold Coast Suns: Anderson, MacPherson, Powell, Ballard, Swallow, Rowell.
Melbourne: Gawn, Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver, Pickett, May.

Injuries
Gold Coast Suns: Ballard (concussion).
Melbourne: Nil.

Umpires: Rebeschini Mollison Wallace Strybos.

Crowd: 11,440 at Heritage Bank stadium.