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Western Bulldogs shook off a bout of stage fright to cement an AFL centre-stage position in September and possibly relegate Sydney to the role of bit-part players following their 16-point win over the Swans at Manuka Oval.
Beaten in their last two starts and down 24-0 in the early minutes, the Bulldogs rebounded to win 17.11 (113) to 14.13 (97).
The victory lifted the second-placed Bulldogs 16-points clear of the slumping Swans, who suffered their fourth defeat in five games.
Missing key personnel, including fullback Leo Barry, full-forward Michael O’Loughlin and dual Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes, the Swans are now engaged in a desperate dogfight to hang onto fourth spot.
Sydney (42 points) now clings onto that spot on just percentage ahead of North Melbourne, who along with Adelaide (40) and St Kilda (40) all won this weekend.
As was the case in their clash earlier this season, the Bulldogs bounced back from a tardy start to win the game with a blistering second quarter effort, kicking eight goals to one.
A career-best six-goal haul to midfielder Jarrad McVeigh, who also picked up 26 possessions, was a strong consolation point for Sydney.
Their volatile centre half-forward Barry Hall was their only other multiple goalkicker with three, although an incident with Western Bulldogs player Lindsay Gilbee in the third quarter might attract further scrutiny.
Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade said his club had been planning for this game for a few weeks and hadn’t been too perturbed by their previous two losses to Geelong and Carlton.
“It was one we needed to win to give us that break from fourth, it was a classic eight-point game for us today and we’ve been building for that,” Eade said.
“That was surprising how we started, but to fight back and to be able to win the game was pleasing.
“It was like we had stage fright, as if `it’s a big game’ and we didn’t want to attack the ball.
“It was really disappointing, obviously we fought our way back by quartertime to be in it at least.”
Eade was particularly happy with the efforts of big man Will Minson and forwards Scott Welsh and Brad Johnson, who kicked five and four goals respectively.
He was pleased with an improvement in the Bulldogs’ ball-winning efforts over previous weeks and with the way they increased their run in the second quarter.
In his 150th game as Sydney coach, Paul Roos couldn’t fault his team’s work-rate, but lamented some costly turnovers and wayward goalkicking.
Down by 28 points at halftime, the Swans started the third quarter with four straight behinds and after a brief revival again fell further back before kicking the last two goals of the match.
A candid Roos admitted the result was a reflection of where the Swans were at the moment and probably weren’t good enough to threaten the top three.
“We are sort of a fifth to eighth team at the moment, so it’s whether we can pick that level up or get some personnel back,” Roos said.
He expected to have Goodes back next week and said Barry was “touch and go” while halfback Nick Malceski was also poised to return.
Roos described McVeigh’s effort as outstanding and was also took solace from the promising debut of youngster Patrick Veszpremi and the effort of another rookie Ryan Brabazon.
With a finals engagement against Hawthorn now seemingly locked in, Eade said he was likely to try and give more senior game time to players like Callan Ward and Peter Street.
Snapshot of AFL round 18.
THEY SAID IT: “There’s no point in stumbling into the top four, you want to win games of footy and unless we start winning, we’re not going to finish there anyway.” – Sydney coach Paul Roos on his side’s fast-diminishing top four hopes.
STATS THAT MATTER: Carlton have led at three-quarter time just once in their past 11 games. They lost that match, against Sydney in round 16. But their generally strong last terms have enabled them to win five of their 10 other games during that period to stay in the finals hunt.
MAN OF THE ROUND: Matthew Lloyd – Earlier this season, most thought the Essendon skipper’s days of big goal hauls were behind him, but his recent form has been superb, culminating in a bag of eight goals against Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday.
MAGIC MOMENT: Lloyd’s classic towering mark over a big goalsquare pack late in the third quarter is impossible to go past as the moment of the weekend and will be hard to top as mark of the year.
TALKING POINT: Who can clinch the bottom five spots in the eight? There are just 10 premiership points separating fourth-placed Sydney from 12th-placed Essendon and all the teams in that bunch could still make or miss the finals.
REPORTS: Nil
KEY INJURIES: Jason Porplyzia (Adel, concussion, shoulder), Chris Knights (Adel, hamstring), Adam Simpson (North, hip), Luke Ball (Saints, hamstring), Shane O’Bree (Coll, hip), Eddie Betts (Carlton, hamstring), Kyle Reimers (Ess, hamstring), Colin Garland (Melb, hamstring).
UNDER PRESSURE THIS WEEK: Sydney’s top four hopes and Collingwood’s finals chances are both slipping fast. The Swans need to rebound against Fremantle next weekend, while the Magpies will be desperate to end a three-game losing streak when they face St Kilda.
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