Match

West Coast Eagles vs Western Bulldogs

Commentary / 26 Jun 2021

Pre Game

00:00

The Eagles have recorded a hitout-to-advantage from 41.4 percent of their centre bounces. This represents the highest percentage of any side and 9.3 percent above the AFL average.

Quarter 1

00:00

Q1 is now underway.

01:28

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Rushed)

02:18

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Rushed)

02:19

The Bulldogs have opened the game with the first four inside 50 entries, but have only converted this dominance into two rushed behinds.

04:13

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Jason Johannisen)

05:03

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Aaron Naughton)

05:04

Aaron Naughton kicks the first major of the game. The Bulldogs spearhead has recorded 30 goals from 14 games in 2021.

07:27

SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Andrew Gaff)

09:57

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Josh Bruce)

10:00

The Bulldogs lead the time in possession after ten minutes of game time, 52 percent to 24.

10:59

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Aaron Naughton)

13:31

The Eagles kicking efficiency is superior to that of the Western Bulldogs, 50 percent to 40.

15:41

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Rushed)

17:11

The clearance tally heavily favours the Bulldogs, ten to three.

18:02

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Marcus Bontempelli)

19:58

SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Nic Naitanui)

24:21

Josh Bruce has been targeted six times inside forward 50 for the Bulldogs. No other player for either side has been targeted more than twice in this zone.

24:53

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Marcus Bontempelli)

26:10

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Bailey Smith)

30:28

The siren has sounded to end Q1.

30:29

The Bulldogs dominated the opening term, winning the clearances 16 to eight, the inside 50 entries 17 to seven, and disposals 98 to 74. However, inaccurate kicking in difficult conditions would give the Eagles hope, as they only trail by 13 points at the first break. This is despite the Bulldogs having ten scoring shots to West Coast's two.

Quarter 2

00:00

Q2 is now underway.

01:48

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Josh Bruce)

01:52

Entering today's contest, the Bulldogs' Tom Liberatore had won 57.5 percent of his possessions in a contested manner, the equal-highest percentage of his career. True to form so far today, four of his seven possessions have been contested (57.1 percent), in a measure the Bulldogs lead 56 to 36.

04:32

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Bailey Williams)

07:16

Marcus Bontempelli's tally of five first-half tackles leads all players on the ground, and has almost matched his 2021 per-game tackle average of 5.1.

08:15

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Bailey Smith)

09:19

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Aaron Naughton)

09:20

Perhaps reflecting the difficult conditions, the Bulldogs have kicked just 2.5 from set shots so far today.

13:31

SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Josh J. Kennedy)

14:04

West Coast's kick-to-handball ratio for the second term is 2.85, up from 1.95 for the opening term.

15:14

SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Josh J. Kennedy)

17:20

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Marcus Bontempelli)

17:21

All five goals kicked today have been sourced from opposition turnovers.

19:52

SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Dom Sheed)

22:17

SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Josh J. Kennedy)

23:13

After both sides kicked the ball with less than 50 percent efficiency in the first term, they have each improved in this measure in the second. For the quarter, both the Eagles and Bulldogs are kicking the ball with 65 percent efficiency.

26:37

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Toby McLean)

30:04

The siren has sounded to end Q2.

30:05

An even second term sees the Bulldogs extend their quarter-time lead to 20 points at the main break. The first-half star has been the Dogs' captain Marcus Bontempelli, contributing 16 disposals, eight contested possessions, seven tackles, five clearances, and kicking two goals.

Quarter 3

00:00

Q3 is now underway.

01:59

Heading into this round, West Coast's Oscar Allen had grabbed 28 contested marks for the season, ranked fifth in the AFL. In difficult conditions, the Eagles big man is yet to add to this tally this afternoon. In fact, he hasn't taken a mark of any sort to this point.

06:30

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Bailey Smith)

07:03

Of the eight free kicks that West Coast has conceded, the most common indiscretion has been for a throw on three occasions.

07:41

SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jack Petruccelle)

08:21

Bulldogs Interchange - Ryan Gardner and is possibly out for the game.

10:25

Bulldogs Interchange - Tim English off due to the blood rule.

11:06

SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Rushed)

11:41

Despite trailing West Coast's Nic Naitanui in total hitouts 27 to 17, the Bulldogs' Tim English has recorded eight hitouts to advantage (47.1 percent) compared to just three for Naitanui (11.1 percent).

12:11

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Bailey Smith)

13:27

SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Oscar Allen)

15:13

SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Oscar Allen)

17:27

After their first two goals were sourced from opposition turnovers, all three of the Eagles' third-quarter goals have been the end result of a disposal chain that began with a West Coast centre bounce stoppage.

18:32

Eagles Interchange - Andrew Gaff off due to the blood rule.

19:43

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Cody Weightman)

21:07

After the Bulldogs ended the first half with ten consecutive inside 50 entries, the Eagles hold a slight edge in this measure for the third term, nine to eight.

21:24

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Rushed)

26:05

Bulldogs Interchange - Tom Liberatore off due to the blood rule.

26:23

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Tim English)

27:15

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Jason Johannisen)

27:16

The Western Bulldogs' entire third-quarter score (3.3) has been sourced from West Coast turnovers.

29:03

SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Jake Waterman)

31:02

The siren has sounded to end Q3.

31:03

Since 2018, West Coast averages 16.4 marks inside the forward 50 zone against the Bulldogs, ranked number one in the AFL. After three quarters today, the Eagles have been limited to just five of this measure.

Quarter 4

00:00

Q4 is now underway.

01:11

Early in the final term, the only man on the ground with 100 percent game time is Bulldogs key position defender Alex Keath.

03:44

SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Oscar Allen)

04:33

Despite being subbed out of the game early in the third term, Ryan Gardner's tally of 11 one percenters for the Bulldogs leads all players on the ground.

04:51

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Tom Liberatore)

09:04

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Jack Macrae)

11:29

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Aaron Naughton)

11:30

With his second goal today, Aaron Naughton has now kicked multiple goals in 11 of 14 games this season.

13:21

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Aaron Naughton)

14:50

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Marcus Bontempelli)

14:51

The Eagles have not won a clearance since the 23rd minute of the third term. In the time since, the Bulldogs have recorded nine clearances, and outscored the Eagles 4.4 to 0.2.

17:09

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Tom Liberatore)

18:13

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Rushed)

19:35

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Riley Garcia)

20:52

The Bulldogs are dominating the final term time in possession, 57 percent to 31.

21:36

SCORE BEHIND - Bulldogs (Cody Weightman)

25:07

SCORE GOAL - Bulldogs (Aaron Naughton)

26:23

For the final term, the Bulldogs have had 11 kicks inside forward 50, converting to 6.5 on the scoreboard. In comparison, the Eagles have had just the two kicks in this zone, with a solitary behind the addition to their score.

27:36

SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jamie Cripps)

29:55

The siren has sounded to end Q4.

29:56

A dominant final quarter by the Western Bulldogs sees them convert a 21 point three-quarter-time lead into a 55 point victory. A full four-quarter effort from Marcus Bontempelli was key, with the Bulldogs star the leader or equal-leader in disposals (25), clearances (eight), score involvements (six), metres gained (518), and goals (two).