It was a promising start for the travelling Dogs with Mitch Wallis and Luke Dahlhaus putting the first two on the board, before the Eagles found their groove, laying on the next seven goals and laying the foundations of what was to become a match-winning lead.
Beveridge’s men were eventually able to stem the bleeding when Josh Schache goaled eight minutes into the second term, the Dogs holding the line and turning the match into an even grind for the next two quarters.
Match report: Dogs overrun in the west
But while Jack Macrae and Jason Johansien traded goals with Elliot Yew and Jack Darling in the opening minutes of the final frame West Coast closed out the game with authority, eventually running out 54-point winners.
The Dogs are now 5-12 heading into their round 19 clash with Port Adelaide in Ballarat.
The numbers
The Dogs had five players with 20+ possessions, including returning half back Hayden Crozier (29 and seven rebound 50s), Josh Dunkley (29, six tackles), stand-in skipper Lachie Hunter (28), Toby McLean (24, seven tackles), Caleb Daniel (23), Jack Macrae, Mitch Wallis (22) and Jason Johannisen (21).
Defender Marcus Adams led the team in marks (7) and one percenters (7) to go along with his 13 disposals, spending time at both ends of the ground.
What they said
“At some point the wheel will turn. We don’t want to play the long game and rise again, and regardless of the injury toll we feel like the 22 we put out each week are more than capable and we felt that again today but we fell well short.
Watch: Luke Beveridge post-match press conference
“But we’re trying to build some foundations for the future and we want that to happen rapidly, we don’t want to finish every week the team on the other end of a nine or ten goal victory so we’ll endeavour to get some positives out of the last five games.
- Senior Coach, Luke Beveridge.
“There’s obviously a lot of opportunity for people with the amount of injuries we have, so just to build some momentum (is the goal for the rest of the season).
“We had a couple of weeks there where we started to go really well, particularly first halves, but just couldn’t see it out. So, just building that momentum.”
- Lachie Hunter
VFL + VFLW
Fergus Greene and Tim English were the stand out performers in Footscray’s 10-point loss to Williamstown on Saturday afternoon.
Greene kicked three goals for the second week running, and English was in good touch around ground, collecting 18 possessions and giving his midfielders first use of the football with 52 hit outs.
Match report: ‘Scray fall to Seagulls
In the VFLW, the Western Bulldogs continue their charge up the ladder after posting their six-consecutive win, a 40-point victory over Williamstown at Burbank Oval.
Match report: Six straight for VFLW Bulldogs
Up next
The Bulldogs return to Mars Stadium in Ballart for their final home game of the AFL season on Sunday, July 29.
Click here for full match and ticketing information.
Both VFL and VFLW have the bye.
