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WESTERN BULLDOGS 2.2 9.7 12.13 19.14 (128) PORT ADELAIDE 3.3 3.5 6.7 9.10 (64)
Goals: Western Bulldogs: J Redpath 4, J Stringer 4, S Crameri 3, T Dickson 3, C Daniel, J Grant, L Picken, M Bontempelli, M Wallis. Port Adelaide: C Wingard 2, J Schulz 2, J Westhoff, M White, P Ryder, R Gray, T Boak.
BEST: Western Bulldogs: Wallis, Bontempelli, Biggs, Boyd, Stringer, Hunter, Macrae. Port Adelaide: Gray, Boak, Ebert, Wingard.
Umpires: Shaun Ryan, Robert Findlay, Andrew Mitchell.
Official Crowd: 20,590 at Etihad Stadium.
It's been a disappointing year for Port Adelaide, but the Power's best is still pretty good, and less than 15 minutes into their clash with the Western Bulldogs, not a single fan of the home team wouldn't have been feeling like their side was about to be on the wrong end of it.
Chad Wingard was everywhere for Port, setting up the first two goals for Jay Schulz and Justin Westhoff and booting the third himself without reply. Westhoff, however, sprayed his second shot out of bounds on the full and thus began one of the most comprehensive turnarounds this season.
By half-time, the margin was 38 points. But it wasn't Port leading, it was the Western Bulldogs after kicking nine unanswered goals from the moment Westhoff failed to trouble the scorers.
This was the Bulldogs' statement that they belong in the sort of top-four company they're now in a genuine position to mix it with.
This was football that achieved the perfect balance of relentless pressure around the ball and on the opposition with tremendous dash and dare, the run and linking up stitched together with handball so frenetic and plentiful it was hard to keep up. The Dogs more than doubled Port's 60 handballs for the first half.
Significantly, this was also a performance that came minus skipper Bob Murphy, important running defender Jason Johannisen and ruckman/defender Jordan Roughead. Depth is another quality of which the Dogs are not in short supply.
Not for the first time this season, it was livewire forward Jake Stringer who got the ball rolling. He found Jarrad Grant with a lovely pass for the Bulldogs' first goal. He kicked the second himself, the Dogs having clawed back within seven points at the first break.
And the beginning of the second term was the signal for both Stringer and his side to click into a higher gear again.
By just over the two-minute mark, he had three goals, his second a booming long bomb from outside 50, the third an opportunistic effort off the ground after an awkward kick from Tory Dickson had run past both he and opponent Jack Hombsch.
Soon, it was Dickson's turn to cash in. He'd kick three of his own over 15 minutes. And now it was the Bulldogs' runners beginning to dominate the statistics.
Marcus Bontempelli's class began to tell. Jack Macrae and Mitch Wallis began to rack them up. And just as conspicuous were a couple more Doggies who weren't even part of the equation a few weeks back, Lachie Hunter and Shane Biggs.
Every Bulldog was prepared to run their backside off to defend, to deny the Power the sort of space with which they can do enormous damage. But the rewards for that hard work were very apparent, too when pressure forced the turnover and the Dogs, on the attack, found plenty of their own space.
By midway through the second term, it became apparent Port didn't have the stomach for the fight. Not only would they end up conceding seven goals to nothing for the term, they couldn't even get their hands to the football, recording a pitiful 56 possessions for the quarter to the Bulldogs' 123.
The visitors managed to stem the bleeding somewhat in the third quarter with a couple of late goals, before normal transmission resumed in the last, young spearhead Jack Redpath now the beneficiary with four final-term goals as the margin blew out past 10 goals.
To underline the extent of the Power's disappearing act, consider the fact that by midway through the last quarter, the leading Port possession winner had just 16 touches to his name. The Bulldogs by that stage had 13 players who'd enjoyed more of the ball than that.
Luke Beveridge's team's evenness across the ground enables players not only to come in and out of the side, but in and out of games with seemingly no interruption to their flow.
Forwards Stringer, Dickson, Stewart Crameri and Redpath finished with 14 goals between them. In defence, Easton Wood and Matthew Boyd covered the gaps left by Murphy and Johannisen. Around the ball there was no shortage of contributors.
Port, with the exception of the first 15 minutes, looked like a team for whom expectations not met have taken a toll finally on effort.
That certainly can't be said of the Western Bulldogs' effort. As for expectations, well, when the final siren went at Etihad Stadium and a live ladder went up on the scoreboard showing the Dogs at that moment fourth, it's fair to say the guttural roar that went up from the home fans was proof enough that they've already been exceeded.
VOTES:
Mitch Wallis (WB) ………..8
Marcus Bontempelli (WB)…8
Shane Biggs (WB)……….8
Matthew Boyd (WB)…….7
Jake Stringer (WB)………7
