BEATEN BY BULLDOGS IN BENDIGO - a not nearly as well alliterated report by Diablo

So it was on the afternoon of February 29th, the girlfriend and I made our way up to Bendigo to have a look at the Dees taking on the Doggies at the magnificent Queen Elizabeth Oval. I had high hopes for this game, even against a strong Dogs' lineup, as another posse of front-liners returned to the team. Even as, a couple of hours before the bounce, we made our way to the Rifle Brigade across the street to take in a few bevies and a meal, I was pumped.

As we took our place in the main Grandstand at the park, it wasn't overly surprising to see that the Dogs' supporters heavily outnumbered us. What was mildly disappointing was that the Dees didn't appear to have any sort of merchandising or membership tent at the ground. I could be wrong, of course, but the Doggies' one was glaringly obvious as it was plonked right in front of the main gate. It does seem ridiculous that we wouldn't at least have a small setup somewhere, so I'll put it down to poor eyesight on my behalf.

Anyway, the first quarter began and my positive attitude (a rarity for me, I'll admit) was vindicated as the Dees FLEW out of the blocks. After a few wayward efforts from both teams, including Will Minson missing an absolute pudding from 15m out, Robbo won a free kick and goaled from 25m out in the pocket.

A lovely kick from Flash to a leading Neitz set the skipper up for his first kick in anger of 2008, and he didn't disappoint, drilling it from a tight angle in the right pocket.

Chook got amongst it in his first hit-out for the year, gathering a couple of touches and taking a strong grab at half-forward, but it was Jones, Davey and Bate who were impressive from the get-go. Jones racked up touches and Davey's pace and skills were on display all night, whilst Bater was by far our best forward, leading hard and linking up the play.

Bater kicked a sausage, some good interplay with Yze led to a running goal for Davey, and then good hands from Weetra and then Morton in traffic released Bate to kick a big bomb for our fifth. We were playing all over the dogs at this stage and they didn't look like getting near us. Then fate conspired to screw us into the ground yet again.

The last 2 goals went to the Dogs after soft free kicks, and a 50m penalty. Now, before I go any further, I want to get the umpiring off my chest. To be fair, I'm just going to say it was poor, when in fact I felt like they castigated us. Without replays, it's hard to totally criminalise the umps, but suffice to say there were about four very tiggy touchwood 50m penalties, and I can't think of more than 3 Bulldog goals that were not from free kicks. It was exceptionally frustrating, but I won't dwell. Reading the commentary this morning, I can see I wasn't the only one who thought the maggots were in rare form last night.

So, quarter time rolled around and we were still comfortably ahead, 5.4 to 2.3. Jones, Bate, and Davey had been our best, with Sylvia also getting amongst it late in the term. Moloney was solid coming off half-back and through the middle, and Miller and Carroll had repelled everything that it was in their power to deal with. All in all, a great opening.

The first goal of the second term went our way, with Jones delivering the goods after some swash-buckling, tackle-busting run and carry that would please even the cynics.

That's when the wheels fell off. Apparently delighted that they had finally managed to use run and carry effectively, after failing to do so for the entirety of last season, the boys went into hibernation. Jones and Beama, both good contributors in the middle, came off, and the Dogs finally got the ascendancy. Sylvia had a great quarter though, tearing through the middle with strength and pace.

The Dogs had a good portion of help from the umpires, but they swamped us and whilst the backline, at least, battled manfully, they couldn't halt the tide. We were able to spoil virtually every time, only for the umpires to penalize us for some innocuous infringement. I've got no doubt that some of them were warranted, but some of them were bloody rubbish… Sorry, forget the umpires.

Anyway, we conceded six goals with no answer, and the tables were not only turned, but well and truly lying on top of us at half time, as we went in 6.6 to 8.4 down. Our tackling and ferocity, which had been prominent early, had evaporated and we looked lackluster for much of the second quarter.

The second half began as the first had ended, with the Dogs goaling from a free kick straight away. It seemed to wake us up, however, and we fought back strongly, hitting the post twice before Davey snapped truly after a ball up. Neitz jagged his second shortly afterwards.

More free kicks, 50m penalties and the inevitably-ensuing goals to the Dogs left us 3 goals down, before Robbo took a fine grab and bagged a sausage from a tight angle.

After that, things went very sour for us pretty quickly. Aker, who had cut us to ribbons all night, had a party in the rest of the third and what was played of the last. Robbo was reported after sending a Dog defender base over apex, though it looked a soft report at worst. Not too many positives for us to take from the second half really, though Jones, Davey and Sylvia all battled to the death. Cale Morton found a bit of the ball and had some good touches. Unfortunately, our forward line was more stagnant than a stubbie in a Mosque. The match ended in (for us, anyway) suitable ignominy, as the lights at the ground took a dump and the umpires finally cut us some slack by ending the game early.

All in all, it was not a diabolical performance by Melbourne, but after the first quarter, I was expecting a bigger effort. Our first quarter was excellent, however, and our third quarter was also competitive, and saw us well within striking distance at the last change. Unfortunately, we capitulated in the final term, and the Dogs surged ahead of us. They may have just, on the balance of play, deserved to win the game, but the umpires gave us a bath.

Western Bulldogs 2.3.15 8.4.52 11.7.73 14.9.93

Melbourne 5.4.34 6.6.42 9.9.63 9.9.63

Goals

Western Bulldogs Akermanis Murphy 2 Boyd Eagleton Griffen Hahn Johnson Minson Mulligan O'Keefe Ward Welsh

Melbourne Bate Davey Neitz Robertson 2 Jones

Best

Western Bulldogs Akermanis Eagleton Higgins Hill Cooney Johnson

Melbourne Jones Davey Bate Sylvia Miller (Get out of town, Diablo, surely ye jest? Maybe, but he battled hard and had some fine moments), Valenti (I know I haven’t mentioned him; he bobbed up at times throughout the game with plenty of poise and is just naturally able to read the play. Get this boy on the senior list ASAP)

Reports R Robertson (Melbourne) for charging J Mulligan (Western Bulldogs)

Umpires M Head C Kamolins J Mollison.

Crowd 7000 (approx) at Queen Elizabeth Oval, Bendigo

Great post Diablo. Many thanks for the effort and insights on behalf of other Demonlanders.

Some questions about the contributions of specific players: Bell & Petterd?

Where did Flash spend most of his time, forward, midfield, pine?

THANKS AGAIN!