AFL Friday Footy Fix: Don't let the margin fool you, the Dogs aren't back just yet

There were plenty of encouraging signs from the Western Bulldogs in their 68-point Good Friday drubbing of North Melbourne, but Luke Beveridge and his team will know there’s a long way to go until the Dogs are back to their best.

Last year’s runner-up dismantled the Kangaroos in the first quarter in one of the most lopsided terms of the year to date, then showed their class in the second half to respond to any challenges, then boost the margin and their percentage late.

In between, though, was a streak of 13 minutes that showed just why the Dogs were 1-3 heading into the match: their defence, when placed under pressure, leaks like a sieve.

Only Melbourne, Port Adelaide and Geelong conceded fewer points than the Bulldogs in 2021, with an often undersized backline regularly getting the job done. But this year, when the Dogs have lost the centre clearance (which has been more often than not at times, especially against Carlton and Richmond) it has meant disaster.

The Dogs’ key defender troubles are well known, but on Good Friday, it was North’s work at ground level that proved more dangerous. Eddie Ford and Curtis Taylor both made the Dogs pay after the pack had been split, while Taylor added a second for the quarter after Tim O’Brien, for the second week in a row, erred kicking across goal and paid the ultimate price.

If this sounds harsh when talking about a team that won by 68 points, it absolutely is. So it’s worth noting that, despite the run of goals, this was clearly the Bulldogs’ most complete performance yet in 2022.

The obvious measure of improvement was in their accuracy. Having been hardly able to hit the side of a barn door against the Tigers, as well as in their win over Sydney, the Dogs suddenly couldn’t miss. Those who theorise that every set shot is basically a coin flip would have been vindicated, as some of the worst culprits from last week sent the ball sailing over the goal umpire’s hat again and again.

Lord knows how many practice shots Aaron Naughton had at training during the week, but if set shots in the first and third term that never deviated from straight through the middle were any guide, I’d put the number at close to a thousand.

Equally importantly, the Dogs, particularly in the first quarter, went away from the ‘Naughton or bust’ approach they’ve fallen into at times this season. The biggest beneficiary was Cody Weightman, who made the most of a mismatch with Atu Bosenavulagi and actually being passed to inside 50 to bag four goals for the term. Just as impressively, only one was from a free kick.

Five goals apiece from Naughton and Weightman was a welcome return to form after a lean few weeks, while the presence of Marcus Bontempelli as a permanent forward for much of the match gave the attack a badly needed second dimension.

Too crafty for Aidan Corr at ground level, and able to outmark genuine key back Harry McKay in the final term, the captain is a great asset in attack for the Dogs, provided they can find replacements for him in midfield. 43 touches from Bailey Smith, plus much-improved performances from veterans Tom Liberatore (25 disposals) and Lachie Hunter (21) suggests the answer is yes.

The scoreline didn’t flatter North Melbourne, but the truth was that after an awful start, the gap between the two sides wasn’t stark at all. The Roos’ best will trouble teams at times this season – as it did the Dogs with that five-goal burst in the second term; but getting it done consistently is another matter.

Getting it out of the centre, banging it long, and pouncing at ground level or tackling ferociously to keep it in are easy enough plans to execute, but the Roos’ ball movement too often fell to pieces when forced to kick to find a target. On the flipside, too often did they fail to make things difficult for the Bulldogs when it was their turn to chip it around, the Dogs racking up 124 marks to just 62. Aaron Hall’s absence after half time with a hamstring injury was a major blow, and his smart ball use at half-back will be difficult to replace in the short term.

Cody Weightman and Aaron Naughton of the Bulldogs celebrate a goal. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

But when all is said and done, 68 points is a big win and a sizeable loss. Talk of taking Good Friday off the Roos is ridiculous and only happening because it’s North, but for the sake of their fans who turned out in reasonable numbers despite the expected result, more consistent effort is a must.

Also not the finished article – but probably closer to it than the Bulldogs – was Sydney. Ruthless early, relentless late and wayward at times in the middle, it wasn’t a complete performance by any stretch, but a West Coast outfit with so many key figures back but horridly underdone wasn’t equipped to put up much of a fight.

63 points felt, as Nick Riewoldt put it after the match, ‘unders’ given the Swans’ domination – yet again the Eagles’ accuracy, kicking 9.4 for the evening, provided some respectability.

As we’ve learned over the last two years, give the Swans room to move in the corridor at your own peril. Cutting through the Eagles like a hot knife through butter, the Sydney forwards were laid out goals on a platter early, Hayden McLean and Logan McDonald proving a dynamic pairing in the absence of Lance Franklin.

With no Jeremy McGovern to repel, the Eagles were lambs to the slaughter.

The Swans had 56 points on the board before the Eagles could so much as register a score; it looked like a 100-point margin was well on the cards. From there, the visitors largely put the cue in the rack, while the Eagles have enough pride in them to fight it out to the end and keep things respectable.

No team has had it harder to start 2022 than West Coast, and while things must get better across the year, it’s hard to see them recovering to make anything significant of the year.

The Eagles’ midfield might look better on paper with the returns of Tim Kelly, Elliot Yeo and Luke Shuey, but the most you could say of their performances was that they will all benefit from the run. Kelly started promisingly before fading late, Yeo looked like a man who’d played just 22 games across two seasons heading in, while Shuey looked better and more confident the longer the game went.

No surprise, then, that the Swans dominated at the coalface, winning the contested possessions 148-111. No Nic Naitanui in the ruck cruelled the Eagles in that department, too, for as a follow-up big man at ground level he is almost without peer in the game. Callum Mills and Luke Parker led that stat with 17 and 13 respectively, Parker moving back into a more full-time midfield role after splitting his time in the forward line throughout the early rounds (though he’d still manage two goals).

It’s worth going to a Sydney game as a neutral fan purely to watch Justin McInerney’s work rate. Patrolling the wings, he would push back into defensive 50 to help his backmen, present options for switching the play or slight gains in territory, then bob up again near his own attacking arc within scoring range.

366 metres gained and 24 disposals doesn’t tell the story of the countless kilometres he ran, often thanklessly, to help his team. It’s a role Ed Langdon has played to perfection at Melbourne, and while McInerney has nowhere near the time on ground, his right foot is a lethal weapon.

The biggest gain for the Swans, though, would be McLean and McDonald’s influence in attack. While only bagging two goals apiece, the ‘big Macs’, as dubbed by Anthony Hudson, presented well and kicked accurately.

McDonald, on his return home to Western Australia, was outstanding, particularly early: his hands, speed for a youngster his size, and footy smarts made for his best and most complete game yet.

There aren’t too many 196cm talls who can do this, for instance.

If Franklin chooses to hang up his boots at the end of the year, McDonald looks just about ready to take the next step.