Dogs dine out on Dons in Friday night blitz

ALMOST a year to the day when the Western Bulldogs were held goalless to go down to Essendon, the Daughters of the West almost inflicted the same unwanted title onto the Bombers in an even more ruthless fashion. While Essendon did kick a goal in the last 10 seconds of the match, the Bulldogs never looked like losing during the commanding 10.7 (67) to 1.4 (10) result.
When asked about whether or not the result showed the representation of how far the Bulldogs have come in the last 12 months, coach Tam Hyett said “potentially”.
“I think we’re a bit of an impatient industry,” she said. “So we were pretty much coming from scratch last year and what we’ve been able to do this year is add layers to out game. “Our players have invested really strongly in what we’re trying to do and tonight was really nice that we were able to capitalise on the opportunities that we had.”
While their form has been up and down at times, the Bulldogs were at their attacking best on Friday night, kicking six first half goals – five of which came in the second term – while keeping Essendon to just two behinds. Up until Daria Bannister ran into an open goal with a few minutes remaining, the Bombers had been restricted to just four behinds on the night.
The Bulldogs had plenty of goalkickers, lead by Sarah Hartwig (13 disposals, two marks, three tackles and three goals) and first-year tall Emma McDonald (11 disposals, five marks and two goals), while a further five players – from forwards, midfielders and ruck – all added their names to the scoreboard.
Hyett said the club had suffered through a little bit of a flu epidemic in recent weeks, but the Bulldogs dealt with it by adjusting midfield rotations. A key feature of the midfield is ruck Alice Edmonds who was simply dominant, finishing with 32 hitouts from 12 disposals, and kicking a goal against a quality opponent in Stephanie Wales (eight disposals, 19 hitouts and five tackles).
“She’s (Edmonds) had a great season,” Hyett said. “For me she’s been probably the dominant ruck in the competition. “She shoulders a fair bit of the load. “What we’re seeing now is she’s being able to clunk some marks and take her opportunities around the ground, but she’s pretty much playing 100 per cent game time every week so she’s been huge.”
The talking point heading into the match came at the selection table when the Western Bulldogs opted to drop skipper Deanna Berry, becoming the second AFLW club this season – after Geelong – to omit its skipper.
“We have selection considerations and whether you’re the captain or not, you’re still upheld to those, and Dee’s probably been a bit quiet the five weeks she’s been in, so we just want her to go and play the scrimmage tomorrow, play on a bit of instinct and get her hand on the footy,” Hyett said. “She’s a talented player and I’m sure she’ll do that.”
The Western Bulldogs have moved to 12th on the ladder with their third win, with last placed Gold Coast Suns up at Mackay the next match on the schedule.