The Western Bulldogs will head up to Brisbane on Friday to take on the Lions at the Gabba in what could be a season-defining game. It will not be the first time the Bulldogs have faced such a scenario since Luke Beveridge took over as coach in 2014 and under his guidance the Dogs have risen to the challenge on multiple occasions.
The first of those came late in 2017. The Bulldogs had suffered a mid-season slump, slipping as low as 11th on the ladder after Round 16, but had recovered to a degree with wins over Carlton, Gold Coast and Essendon. Despite that turnaround, the Dogs headed to Brisbane in Round 20 still sitting outside the top eight, and a win over the Lions was vital to keeping their finals chances alive.
Brisbane sat on the bottom of the ladder, but had shown mid-season improvement under first-year coach Chris Fagan, chalking up Gabba wins over Fremantle and Carlton. They were not to be taken lightly.
That message was hammered home to the visiting Bulldogs in the second and third quarters of their Saturday twilight match. After a strong first term which ended with the Bulldogs 28 points clear, the Lions came back hard after quarter time. They closed the gap to 11 points at half-time, and were ahead by that margin at the last change of ends.
Needing someone to stand up and be counted in the final quarter the Bulldogs found that man – not the first time and by no means the last. With the Dogs staring down the barrel of defeat, Marcus Bontempelli stepped up in a big way as soon as the last term got underway. The young star was everywhere in the first five minutes, having three shots at goal on his own. Only one of those hit the target, but the Dogs had wrested the momentum back from the home side.
Inspired by Bontempelli, the whole Bulldogs team lifted, and goals to Clay Smith and Jack Redpath put the visitors nine points ahead of the Lions 12 minutes in. Brisbane was not about to lie down though and a pair of majors from Lion Ryan Bastinac had the home side back ahead by three points with only time-on remaining.
Once again the Bulldogs answered the call, with Bontempelli again leading the charge. After Toby McLean snatched the lead back for the Dogs with a goal at the 23-minute mark, ‘Bont’ put his stamp on the match with his second of the quarter minutes later. The Dogs were not headed again, and a final goal from Liam Picken capped off a hard-fought 14-point victory which lifted Beveridge’s men back into the top eight.
Unsurprisingly, Bontempelli’s brilliant four-quarter performance earned him three Brownlow Medal votes. As well as his two goals, his match-winning effort comprised 23 disposals, 12 contested possessions, six clearances and five tackles. He was ably supported by his midfield partner in crime Jack Macrae (32 disposals), McLean (28 touches and a goal) and Lachie Hunter (29 possessions and a goal).
Just over four years later the Bulldogs returned to the Gabba facing a far greater challenge. By 2021, the Brisbane Lions, with Chris Fagan now in his fifth season as coach, had become a formidable force and were hosting the Bulldogs in a semi-final.
Having to take on Brisbane at the Gabba in a final is always a huge ask, but in 2021 the ongoing COVID pandemic added further complexities for travelling teams. The Bulldogs had already had to head south to Tasmania to ‘host’ Essendon in the first week of the finals, and then fly north to Brisbane after seeing the Bombers off by 49 points at York Park in Launceston.
With travel being a challenge at the best of times, COVID restrictions increased the degree of difficulty for the Doggies, with some members of the club contingent forced to travel separately from the main group.
Recalling the logistical nightmare in a 2024 interview, Western Bulldogs CEO Ameet Bains said the club had done a great job of handling a constantly evolving and unprecedented set of circumstances:
“They only let a majority of the travelling party travel to Brisbane. The non-playing players and some select staff had to stay in Tassie. Then it was solo room isolation in Brisbane for over 24 hours. You could only come out at set times for meals. It is insane to reflect upon now.”
All of those challenges came before the Bulldogs had even set foot on the Gabba and take on the Brisbane Lions on their home territory.
The Lions went into match as strong favourites, and they clearly showed why in the first quarter of the cut-throat semi-final. After the Dogs kicked two of the first three goals of the game (both from the unlikely boot of Tom Liberatore), Brisbane took control. With speedy forward Charlie Cameron virtually unstoppable, the Lions piled on five goals in the opening term (three of those to Cameron) to lead by 11 points at quarter time.
Reigning in Cameron and the other Brisbane forwards in the second quarter, the Dogs dried up the Lions’ scoring avenues and added three goals of their own through Aaron Naughton, Mitch Hannan and Cody Weightman to take a one-goal lead into time-on before Brisbane’s Mitch Robinson kicked the Lions’ only major of the term to square the ledger. A behind to Zac Bailey gave the home side a one-point lead at the long break.
The match had become a dour affair, and it continued in that vein when play resumed. Goals were hard to come by, and the three scored in the first 25 minutes of the third quarter all went Brisbane’s way, giving the Lions a handy three-goal lead.
Needing a spark ahead of the three-quarter time siren, the Dogs got one via Jason Johannisen, his long kick on the run from just inside the 50-metre mark giving the visitors their only goal of the quarter. Johannisen’s goal was followed by two further shots from Alex Keath and ‘JJ’ himself, and although both missed, the Bulldogs took momentum into the final break, with the margin back to just 10 points.
With a preliminary final spot on the line, the Dogs truly came out snarling at the start of the last quarter. Goals to Macrae, former Lion Josh Schache and Bailey Smith took the Bulldogs to an eight-point lead in the first 10 minutes.
The home side were not done yet, however, and a goal to Tom Fullarton had the two sides heading into time-on locked at 71 points apiece. Each side added a single behind over the next 10 minutes and the idea of extra time was dominating the thoughts of most when the scoreboard showed both teams on 72 with two minutes left on the clock.
Those final two minutes could hardly have been more dramatic. They began with a brilliant snap from the boundary line by Bailey Smith, putting the Dogs a goal ahead. But moments later another Bailey – Brisbane’s Zac – matched Smith’s effort with his own brilliant goal, and scores were level again with 74 seconds remaining.
From the centre bounce the Dogs swept the ball forward where, under extreme pressure, Laitham Vandermeer managed to put ball to boot and dribble it through for a behind. The Dogs led by a point, but the Lions now had the ball and there was still 50 seconds remaining, time to take the ball to the other end of the Gabba. The Lions did just that, but the Bulldogs defence held firm to win by a solitary point. It was one of the club’s greatest ever finals victories.
Macrae (39 disposals), Caleb Daniel (31) and Bontempelli (29) all played huge roles in the memorable win, as did Bailey Smith, whose goal to put the Dogs ahead was his third, to go with his 27 touches.
Having pulled off a miraculous win, the Western Bulldogs then had to travel again, and a week later they would overcome the odds once more to thrash Port Adelaide on its home turf to qualify for that year’s Grand Final.
As Bont and Bevo head to the Gabba once again this week, they’ll know that some Bulldog heroics in the style of 2017 and 2021 will be needed to keep their top four hopes alive.
