AFL Live updates: Bulldogs dine out, go close to inflicting Lyon’s heaviest defeat at Saints

A Dale force

One of three established Bulldogs who have felt the fire of selection has been All-Australian Bailey Dale. His kicking had been off, so the coach gave him a freshen up by starting him as the sub against Essendon and the yield came this week. He won the ball and sent it back to put the Bulldogs in a scoring position. Dale kicked a goal in the second quarter but he was the architect in a first half that saw the Bulldogs kick 8.3 (51) from 28 of the 29 kicks they put inside 50, only turning over one kick. He finished with a career-best 40 touches. By contrast the Saints could not make a kick inside 50, with their goals coming from Bulldog mistakes. Dale forms a solid rebounding duo with Norm Smith medallist Jason Johannisen. Jack Macrae has also been feeling the heat, but his effort was outstanding, a tackle in the third quarter summing up his game as he kicked a goal and helped the Bulldogs to their highest tackle count for the season.

Naughton sizzles and soars

Aaron Naughton looked sharp from the start of playing, getting his hands on the ball and flying for marks. He finished with an equal career best six goals, but he looked extremely dangerous from the moment the ball went forward. He benefited from another explosive start from Cody Weightman who sparked the Bulldogs with three first quarter goals against the Saints, replicating his match winning effort against Gold Coast in round two when he slammed on four first quarter goals. With Jamarra Ugle-Hagan missing for personal reasons responsibility also fell on Rory Lobb to provide a contest and he did that very well, occupying Zaine Cordy and Callum Wilkie and attacking the ball in the air like it was his last chance.

Thumping for the ages

The 60-point margin was not just an ordinary thumping. It was the second-biggest defeat Ross Lyon has suffered in his 151 games as St Kilda coach, lucky to not set a new record that had stood since round 7, 2010 when Cooper Sharman kicked a goal after the siren. Lyon said pre-game that he was frustrated rather than disappointed at the team losing three of their first five games by fewer than 10 points but he would have been extremely disappointed at their performance at Marvel Stadium. Once again they were slow to start, having conceded 15.6 (96) to 2.7 (19) in the past three games. They did not put pressure on the Bulldogs and were dominated out of the centre clearance. They played like a tired team after three games in 11 days and their senior players were disappointing with Jack Steele, Rowan Marshall, Seb Ross and Callum Wilkie well beaten. Tim Membrey kicked three goals in the last quarter when the game was done. The team has young talent and have been consistent up until this round, so they will regroup but at 2-4 with Port Adelaide in round seven the season is slipping away.

Q: How pleased are you with that response.

A: Good night for us. Something to canvass during the week after what happened last Friday night [against Essendon]. It’s a start. So emphatically was encouraging. We’ve had some good starts here and there this year already. It’s [an] important night.

Q: What about the performance itself. What were the most pleasing aspects?

A: I think, you know, probably mention the other week what we’re after is pretty even contributions across the ground. And improving the read, white and blue players that played. Not too many didn’t have an influence. That’s pre-important for us. I’ve been impressed with St Kilda’s tenacity and their work ethic. And their willingness to complete and kept coming. So even though we had a bit of a margin, we were never really comfortable [tonight].

Six goals from Aaron Naughton, so ….

Q: First performance that wasn’t you’ve been probably pretty consistent up until then. How do you explain it?

A: I can explain it a little bit. I’d like to think that’s not us … We haven’t had one performance like that to be honest. Our worst might have been over in Adelaide or I think Gold Coast. Both of them we fought on. Look, we’re a little bit worried coming here that the demands of the game. I don’t want to use excuses.

I was cautious and I flagged [that] in the pre-game interview, it’s our second full day prep off, say, so first thing is the Bulldogs spoke about I didn’t understand the noise around them. You get the data analysis. Won of six teams that attack in defence above average. Played pretty good opponents. They had a flat second- half against Essendon. We knew they were very capable. We knew how they would play. Couple of good players out in Ugle-Hagan, and Liberatore … the physiological demand is extreme. That was the worry.

I thought in the contests we’re OK. We win the ground ball this those things. They put us to the sword on the outside. Their centre square bounce work was very good. [Tim] English was very good … I don’t want to make excuses because I want to give credit to the Bulldogs. Certainly my group there was no angst after the game. It was like, we’ve got to prove there’s a lot of mitigating circumstances, that really challenged us. So, we’ll look to respond. We’ll lick our wounds tonight, feel for our fans and our members. All they see is the performance.

They’ve had 150 marks to 60 marks. There’s a lot of numbers that tell us, they just beat us on the outside. That’s my simple summary.

Q: Is it unreasonable to expect to play three games in 11 days?

A: It’s interesting. I suppose I don’t know, there’s always commercial aspirations of your club and who represents you at that time. Then there’s the footy agenda. So it’s the demands of the game. We’re really honest team that’s trying to improve capability like the Bulldogs are to chase once they’ve established themselves. Is that what it was – three games in 11 days? It’s not an excuse.

We need to regenerate and get going. Because we’re not playing the way we want to. Look, all year we have been a bit inconsistent. We played quality to be fair.

All credit – [the] Bulldogs were fierce. They were threatening. Blocked really well. Moved the ball. We couldn’t find them. Which is unusual for us. So all credit to them. They march on and we’ll take some heat. We’re going to improve our capability and our footy and re-establish what we stand for.

ST KILDA 1.0 4.3 5.7 9.10 (64)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 7.1 12.4 17.6 19.10 (124)

GOALS – St Kilda: Membrey 3, Sharman, Owens, Wilson, Caminiti, Jones, Garcia
Western Bulldogs: Naughton 6, Weightman 3, Bontempelli 3, Darcy, West, Gallagher, Treloar, English, Macrae, Dale

BEST – St Kilda: Hill, Bonner, Wilkie, Ross. Western Bulldogs: Treloar, Dale, Macrae, English, Johannisen

UMPIRES – Stephens, Hosking, Gianfagna, Mollison

Adam Treloar spoke to Channel Seven:

Q: A man who was instrumental through the midfield Adam Treloar. A week is long time in footy. You must be very pleased with this result?

A: It’s been up and down for us. The ebbs and flows of footy and highs and lows. You know, [we] thoroughly believe when we play our best footy we can do performances like that. I felt like we did it early on in the season. The games we haven’t done it is the games we get found out like last week. Pleased with the way the boys went about it. Didn’t worry about the scoreboard until you looked up and we’re up a bit. Very pleased with the boys considering the week we’ve had and the pressure we’re under.

Q: Was there anything on the white board that stood out to focus on tonight?

A: I think, part of the Bulldogs DNA especially under Bevo for a long time is contest pre-sure side. I feel like when we’re on top in that regard, not only as midfield but as a forward hunting pack, defenders winning, aerial winning ball contests. I feel like we give ours a good opportunity to ultimately pressure them to win the ball back and then score. That was probably the main thing for us. Just getting back to hunting, hunting in numbers. Making sure they don’t have many easy kicks. Especially going inside 50. They’ve got elite ball users going, Bradley Hill, and Jack Sinclair. The fact we were able to nullify them a bit is very pleasing.

Q: You have had injuries. You must be feeling it?

A: Definitely, no, definitely, Daisy, feel like I’m 31 now. Feel like I prioritise my recovery and looking after my body. And you know, the minute I can’t produce is the minute I walk away from the game. The fact that I can still feel like I contribute and have an impact on the group and spread my leadership and whatever it maybe I’m glad I can do that.

A Dale force

One of three established Bulldogs who have felt the fire of selection has been All-Australian Bailey Dale. His kicking had been off, so the coach gave him a freshen up by starting him as the sub against Essendon and the yield came this week. He won the ball and sent it back to put the Bulldogs in a scoring position. Dale kicked a goal in the second quarter but he was the architect in a first half that saw the Bulldogs kick 8.3 (51) from 28 of the 29 kicks they put inside 50, only turning over one kick. He finished with a career-best 40 touches. By contrast the Saints could not make a kick inside 50, with their goals coming from Bulldog mistakes. Dale forms a solid rebounding duo with Norm Smith medallist Jason Johannisen. Jack Macrae has also been feeling the heat, but his effort was outstanding, a tackle in the third quarter summing up his game as he kicked a goal and helped the Bulldogs to their highest tackle count for the season.

Naughton sizzles and soars

Aaron Naughton looked sharp from the start of playing, getting his hands on the ball and flying for marks. He finished with an equal career best six goals, but he looked extremely dangerous from the moment the ball went forward. He benefited from another explosive start from Cody Weightman who sparked the Bulldogs with three first quarter goals against the Saints, replicating his match winning effort against Gold Coast in round two when he slammed on four first quarter goals. With Jamarra Ugle-Hagan missing for personal reasons responsibility also fell on Rory Lobb to provide a contest and he did that very well, occupying Zaine Cordy and Callum Wilkie and attacking the ball in the air like it was his last chance.

Thumping for the ages

The 60-point margin was not just an ordinary thumping. It was the second-biggest defeat Ross Lyon has suffered in his 151 games as St Kilda coach, lucky to not set a new record that had stood since round 7, 2010 when Cooper Sharman kicked a goal after the siren. Lyon said pre-game that he was frustrated rather than disappointed at the team losing three of their first five games by fewer than 10 points but he would have been extremely disappointed at their performance at Marvel Stadium. Once again they were slow to start, having conceded 15.6 (96) to 2.7 (19) in the past three games. They did not put pressure on the Bulldogs and were dominated out of the centre clearance. They played like a tired team after three games in 11 days and their senior players were disappointing with Jack Steele, Rowan Marshall, Seb Ross and Callum Wilkie well beaten. Tim Membrey kicked three goals in the last quarter when the game was done. The team has young talent and have been consistent up until this round, so they will regroup but at 2-4 with Port Adelaide in round seven the season is slipping away.

Aaron Naughton spoke to Channel Seven post-match

Q: Liam Jones in the back line .… you’ve seen him first hand. You played against him a lot in pre-season. Tell us about him.

A: It’s awesome. You want to train against the best. He’s one of the best key defenders. I think he’s extremely underrated in competition. He goes harder with us at training which is a better thing for us. We keep getting better. He just hates losing. I think his trademark is his closing speed. It looks like he’s done but he’ll scrap and get in there.

Q: Off the back of last week .… the performance this week couldn’t be better timing coming this Thursday night. Any themes during the club during the week that you brought in tonight.

A: We had a decent meeting after last week’s loss. It was all about sticking together. We know we’re a tight knit group. We love playing for offence other. We keep messages simple this week. We know, what holds us in good stead to play good footy. Playing for each other is the biggest one. Awesome.

Jason Johannisen spoke to Channel Seven:

Q: Jason, fantastic game. You found your form especially in this game.

A: Yeah, it was nice. I think it’s a great team effort. I think, our mids got on top early. Lobb, created contest and putting scoreboard pressure early was key. We did that. Good win.

Q: Talk about the leadership in the team. Anything extra over and above given the fact it was a big spotlight on this club for you guys.

A: It was frustrating loss last week. So we knew we had to rectify it and yeah, just the demographic of our group. A lot of experience. A lot of youngsters and which need some reminders of what we need to do to make it look like a Bulldog game. We did that tonight.

Q: Speaking of youth. Tell us about Sam Darcy and what he brings to this club.

A: He’s been enormous. Obviously, a pre-season, full pre-season under his belt. He’s reaping the rewards. He’s going to be such a hard player to stop.