Three things in the change in the third quarter:

Petracca turning it on

Jackson

Oliver going onto Bont and keeping him quiet (hardly noticed by anyone but Daisy).

Soft effort from Maxy was 100% not a free and well umpired.

Don’t think their was a single turning point but a series of events in which players stood up.

Viney attack on the ball

Harmes who had been very poor up untill this time - great pass to fritsch

Fritsch efficiency in front of goal 

Jackson - petracca - Oliver centre clearance dominance 

I say Fritsch was the turning point. Great play has to be converted. He made a tricky must make set shot under pressure then followed up with a superb individual effort to make an improbable goal. 

24 minutes ago, Ollie fan said:

Oliver going onto Bont and keeping him quiet (hardly noticed by anyone but Daisy).

Apparently this was another player-lead initiative, like Gawn vetoing the coaches about taking Jacko out of the ruck. Oliver claimed responsibility for Bont at half time. 

Selfless.

29 minutes ago, Nasher said:

Apparently this was another player-lead initiative, like Gawn vetoing the coaches about taking Jacko out of the ruck. Oliver claimed responsibility for Bont at half time. 

Selfless.

That’s interesting. As you say, selfless.

Gus taking that incredibly brave mark and then goal.

1 hour ago, John Crow Batty said:

I say Fritsch was the turning point. Great play has to be converted. He made a tricky must make set shot under pressure then followed up with a superb individual effort to make an improbable goal. 

Fritsch absolutely would've held that hanger if Maxy didn't spoil it.

2 hours ago, KingDingAling said:

How can you prepare for that?

This is the key to understanding why Jackson is so important to us. There is no matchup for him. He is a point of difference between us and every other team. 

1 hour ago, John Crow Batty said:

I say Fritsch was the turning point. Great play has to be converted. He made a tricky must make set shot under pressure then followed up with a superb individual effort to make an improbable goal. 

He kicked 4 of our first 7 goals when the game was on the line. He was incredible.

3 hours ago, sue said:

Speaking of such things, wasn't there a head high bump by their #4 on Oliver(?) early in the match.  Need to see replay.

Elected to bump. Hit the head. Should be a week considering it’s the spectacle of the year with all eyes watching. Will anything come if it……no he is a pet of both umpires and afl. 
 

Another turning point though was burgess. We ran over the top of them and they couldn’t get near us. 

4 hours ago, Nasher said:

?

How does one “play up” having their head slammed in to the turf in a sling tackle? He must have drawn the graze that was visible for the rest of the game on his forehead on with a red sharpie.

Bewildering not to be called as a dangerous tackle.

 

2 hours ago, John Crow Batty said:

I say Fritsch was the turning point. Great play has to be converted. He made a tricky must make set shot under pressure then followed up with a superb individual effort to make an improbable goal. 

Gotta agree.
Kicked 4 of his goals when the game was at it's hottest.
2 in a minute when we needed 'em most to light the joint up.
Started a premiership quarter rampage that won't be forgotten.
 

I reckon Trac was the turning point particularly half way through the third to the final siren. He just said to the guys "hope on my back and I'll take you to the premiership"

3 hours ago, hardtack said:

I disagree with ALL of the above. The real turning point was before the opening bounce, when the Bulldogs ribbon slipped down to the bottom of the Premiership Cup’s handle as it was being moved from the back of the ute to the table.

That 100 to 7 point final 40 minutes wasn’t bad icing on the cake either.

Haha I thought I was the only one that noticed that. 

2 hours ago, Grr-owl said:

This is the key to understanding why Jackson is so important to us. There is no matchup for him. He is a point of difference between us and every other team. 

He will probably take over Max's AA spot. We could have a player as first ruck in the AA side for over a decade. Imagine that.

4 hours ago, Nasher said:

Apparently this was another player-lead initiative, like Gawn vetoing the coaches about taking Jacko out of the ruck. Oliver claimed responsibility for Bont at half time. 

Selfless.

Is that right? Interesting. Where did you hear that? 

The critical error that lost Western Bulldogs the AFL grand final

1 minute ago, Chelly said:

The critical error that lost Western Bulldogs the AFL grand final

Nah. The critical error was that they only managed to kick less than half our score.

21 hours ago, ucanchoose said:

Brayshaw was the turning point

He was a big part of it

21 hours ago, cantstandyasam said:

Maxy said to Goody leave him in the ruck, that what got us going the drive he gave us out of the centre bounces. Jacko is like the tallest ruckrover/ruckman in the league. He is so good below his knees.

i said pregame that we should have started Jacko in the middle and Max forward exactly what they wern't expecting

40 minutes ago, Chelly said:

The critical error that lost Western Bulldogs the AFL grand final

Wow it’s interesting watching that, but just focusing on Jackson. Jackson kept his feet when Martin went to ground twice, in the first clip the Bulldogs nearly had the ball at the start and Jackson immediately ran to the defensive side as a sweeper and the last clip shows how multifaceted Jackson is. English takes himself out of the game after the centre bounce and simply trudges but Jackson’s speed and intensity makes it like having another midfielder.

Sure, Brown has a point that their lack of defensive structure facilitated our scoring and turning point. But it was Jackson and the mids who had to win it in the first place.

My son has a Demons Hippo with a number 1 on the back. We taped up his hamstring two weeks ago when May went down, and I finally took the tape off at half time after May had hobbled through the second quarter..

Sure the Dogs scored the first two goals of the third quarter, but our defence was looking much better and we were working back into the game at that point. 

I'm pretty sure that removing the hippo's tape was the true turning point.

Fritta keeping his feet.

Jackson keeping his feet. Both lead to goals, it seems simple but it’s easier to fall over.

Going back earlier in the season, something must have happened when the players were stuck all day on the Gold Coast on a plane. Where before we depended on our great defence to prop up a barely adequate forward line we turned into an awesome offensive scoring machine that destroys the opposition in a matter of minutes.