At the Carlton season launch, Mick Malthouse rather imprudently said he could not find a game that Carlton would lose this year. He didn't have to search for long with the Blues' sliding to a miserable 0-2 start. As we learnt in high school physics: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction".
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While Carlton have gone from "potential flag winners" to potential wooden spooners in the blink of an eye, they have been balanced perfectly by the seemingly unlikely 2-0 start by the Western Bulldogs. Both teams have faced the same opponents in the first two rounds, and if the Dogs' hard-fought win over West Coast in round one was put a little into perspective by the ensuing demolition job the Eagles performed on the Blues in Perth, then it was positively reinforced with their brilliant win over the Blues' round one victors Richmond on Saturday.
The Bulldogs were tipped to struggle again this season after finishing 14th in 2014, and their year was all but written off when superstar midfielder Tom Liberatore tore his ACL in the pre-season. The season was also looking grim for fantasy coaches, too. Not only was the loss of "Libba" huge, but with his injury and Ryan Griffen moving on, there were major questions that fantasy coaches that needed answering. Who was going to win the contested ball? And more importantly, who was going to get the opposition attention? The uncertainty meant players such as last year's sensation Jack Macrae slid down Ultimate Footy draft lists.
They needn't have worried, as the Bulldogs had a couple of ready-made replacements up their sleeve, namely Mitch Wallis and Marcus Bontempelli. Wallis was a ball magnet as a junior and looked to be heading that way in his AFL career before developing as a lock-down tagger.
Released from his tagging duties this season, he is averaging 16 contested possessions and eight clearances a game, and scored a very handy 96 points on Saturday.
Bontempelli is another beast altogether. Regarded as one of the best young talents in the country entering his second season, he was perhaps paid the biggest compliment in round one when the Eagles sent top tagger Scott Selwood straight onto him. "The Bont" didn't shrink under the attention, gathering 22 possessions and a huge 10 tackles to net him 103 fantasy points.
With less attention against the Tigers on Saturday he was simply sensational, gathering 27 possessions, six clearances and another 10 tackles for a whopping 133.
New coach Luke Beveridge has added an attacking flair to the Bulldogs' game, and with Wallis and Bontempelli taking care of the "grunt" work, players such as Luke Dahlhaus (102 fantasy points on Saturday), Mitch Honeychurch (81) and Macrae (93) are reaping the benefits of freedom and supply, and thriving in the middle of the ground and across half-forward.
With the midfield going toe-to-toe with some of the best, it has also allowed veteran Matthew Boyd to undertake a new roaming half-back role – a role he is obviously enjoying with fantasy scores of 113 and 109 in the first two rounds. It's not just the rise of Wallis and Bontempelli that has made a difference. The signing of promising young key forward Tom Boyd in the off-season has also enabled players such as Jake Stringer and Tory Dickson to enjoy more opportunity in the forward 50, with Stringer bagging 3.3 in round one and Dickson an impressive 4.2 on Saturday.
The style of footy that the Dogs are offering is not only benefiting the club and fans, but also fantasy coaches, as the Dogs look like they could become this year's fantasy goldmine. They have a tough few weeks ahead with games against Hawthorn, Adelaide and Sydney, but with the third-youngest list in the league, they have plenty of scope for improvement, and there could well be much more to come.
Article supplied by Footy Prophet – football analysis with a fantasy focus. Footy Prophet is fantasy football.
