Marra’s moment
After being subjected to horrific racial abuse the week prior, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan silenced the trolls with an equal career-high five-goal outing against the Lions in round three.
His celebration after his first goal however – which he said happened by instinct – drew uncanny similarities to Nicky Winmar’s famous stance almost 30 years ago to the day.
"I knew it was coming up to 30 years since Nicky Winmar did that, but it just came in the moment. I didn't know I was going to kick a goal tonight, so the celebration just came with it," Ugle-Hagan told reporters alongside coach Luke Beveridge after the match.
"To do that in front of everyone, hopefully it makes a stance and a moment, and hopefully people look back on it 30 years from now and say, 'From then, nothing's happened since'. Hopefully no one cops anything like I've been through."
Dogs’ trio celebrate career-high outputs
Cody Weightman, Bailey Williams and Anthony Scott have all broken their respective goalkicking PB’s in the first half of 2023.
Williams was the first to achieve his individual record – slotting three goals against the Dockers in round six, followed by Scott who bagged three against Carlton in round nine.
Both had previously never slotted more than two each.
Weightman had a day out against North Melbourne this past weekend, which also happened to mark his 50th career game.
He finished the day with six goals to his name – boosting his season tally so far to 19 goals from 10 outings.
Double centuries for star duo
The Bulldogs welcomed two star favourites to the 200-game club within a fortnight of one another – celebrating Tom Liberatore in round five and Marcus Bontempelli in round seven.
It’s been quite the journey for true Son of the West Liberatore, who became just the 22nd Bulldogs’ player to reach the dual century, and 12th player (since it was introduced in 1949) to play 200 games for the same club as their Dad.
Bontempelli became the 23rd Bulldog to notch up game 200, and has barely put a foot wrong in his career to date – remarkably missing just six games since 2015.
Bontempelli goes beast mode
Speaking of The Bont, it’d be remiss not to talk about his efforts against the Giants in round eight.
A career-high 14 clearances – 10 of which he had before half-time - seven tackles, one goal and a Club-record 26 contested possessions reminded the competition of just how damaging he can be.
The skipper earned 10 coaches’ votes on the night, and will most likely claim the three Brownlow votes too.
Dual debut delights
The Bulldogs have handed out two senior debuts so far – Arthur Jones in round three, and James O’Donnell in round nine.
It’s been a story of patience for Jones, who was drafted with pick 43 in the 2021 National Draft.
He spent last year plying his trade with Footscray VFL, before being rewarded with an AFL debut.
O’Donnell’s journey was quite the opposite – added as a Category B Rookie in early April and in the senior team 35 days later.
The former cricketer and son of Simon O’Donnell has been thrown around the ground in his career so far, but looks likely to return to defence after injuries to Liam Jones, Tim O’Brien and Hayden Crozier this week.
