MATCH DETAILS

When: Thursday 12 September
Where: Mission Whitten Oval
First bounce: 7.15pm AEST
Admission: Buy tickets now
Membership: Sign up today
Broadcast: Fox Footy and Kayo Sports

LAST MEETING

Round 9, 2023
Western Bulldogs 6.8 (44) def. West Coast 5.6 (36)

The Bulldogs broke-through for their first win of the 2023 season on the road, defeating the Eagles by eight points. In a season riddled with injuries and disappointing results, the Bulldogs were finally rewarded for effort in the penultimate round of the campaign. The Dogs led from start to finish at Mineral Resources Park, surviving a second-half comeback to salute. Ellie Blackburn was superb with a career-high 32 disposals, nine marks, five tackles and 665 metres gained, while Issy Grant and Liz Georgostathis were solid in defence. Alice Edmonds also stood tall in the ruck, winning 27 hit-outs to go with 15 touches.

THE LINE-UP

Ins: Aurora Smith, Bri McFarlane
Outs: Cleo Buttifant (injured), Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner (managed)
New: -
Milestones: De Berry (50 games), Lauren Ahrens (50 games), Brit Gutknecht (25 games)

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY

– Gemma Bastiani, womens.afl

The winless Western Bulldogs will return to Whitten Oval – one week later than initially fixtured – in the hopes of competing more consistently across four quarters. But West Coast is no longer the easy beat of seasons past. Instead, the young Eagles are a challenging side with spread in attack and a solidified backline. They were caught out in the opening quarter last week, but then brought it back to an arm wrestle, playing in a way that threatened Essendon's defence. Kellie Gibson, Amy Franklin, and Ella Roberts will be difficult for the Bulldogs' under-siege defence to contain.

For the Dogs, maintaining shape ahead of the play is important, as too often they have won the ball back but then had nothing to kick toward in attack. But it is not just up forward that this is a problem. They find themselves sucked into the play right across the ground, leaving dangerous opposition players in space and able to run and carry once the ball spits out. Finding more structure across the ground, and forcing the Eagles to compete, even out in space, will be important.  

WHAT’S ON AT WHITTEN

AFLW is finally back at Mission Whitten Oval for the first time in 2024, and in honour of our homecoming this Thursday night, we’ll be celebrating the best of the West in a special ‘Locals’ night’. Check out the full list of offerings here and then head to our game-day guide to lock in all the plans for your evening at Mission Whitten Oval.

The Western Bulldogs have fallen 11 points short against West Coast in their return to Mission Whitten Oval on Thursday night. 

The Dogs came out with a real bite as yet unseen this year and came within five points in the last quarter, but couldn't close out the 5.2 (32) to 3.3 (21) result.

The two sides played contrasting game styles. Where the Dogs focused on spreading to defence and creating an outnumber, the Eagles were concerned with finding outside runners and creating fast ball movement.

A bright start from the Bulldogs had the home crowd up and about. They slotted the first goal via Isabelle Pritchard (19 disposals, 10 tackles, one goal) and maintained attacking territory for long periods.

Third-game Eagle Sanne Bakker (seven disposals, seven tackles) was given the colossal job of running with Ellie Blackburn (21 disposals, one goal) for much of the game. The duo traded blows, with Blackburn able to use her power to break away from stoppage at times, but Bakker able to impact much of her disposal with elite pressure.

Jaide Britton's (23 disposals) positioning on the wing was important for West Coast's structures, supporting the grunt work of Alison Drennan (25 disposals, eight clearances, one goal) and Bella Lewis (14 disposals, one goal) inside the contest.

Teenage Bulldog Elaine Grigg gave the Dogs some serious grunt, closing down space and cannoning into opposition players. While at times it crossed the line and gave up a free kick, it was the intent that helped bring her teammates along.

Pressure Dogs
After being blown out of the water across the opening fortnight, the Bulldogs came out on their home deck with some real bite. It was a stunning Isabelle Pritchard goal, followed by a textbook Ellie Blackburn tackle, then a huge Elaine Grigg tackle inside 50. They put their stamp on the game early and reminded fans that there is still something dangerous about this team. The forward pressure they applied was outstanding, and gave them something from which to build.

Up next
West Coast will stay in Melbourne and kick off mid-week footy on Tuesday against Collingwood at IKON Park, while the Western Bulldogs' tough road continues with a trip to Brighton Homes Arena to face Brisbane on Wednesday.

WESTERN BULLDOGS     2.1    2.2    2.3   3.3 (21)
WEST COAST                   1.1    3.1    4.1   5.2 (32)

GOALS 
Western Bulldogs: Pritchard, McFarlane, Blackburn,
West Coast: Western, Lewis, Drennan, Roberts, Di Donato

BEST 
Western Bulldogs: Pritchard, Grigg, Blackburn, Smith, Carruthers
West Coast: Drennan, Lewis, Britton, Roberts, Thomas

INJURIES 
Western Bulldogs: Blackburn (foot)
West Coast: Nil

Crowd: 1,545 at Mission Whitten Oval