Herald Sun
The Bulldogs ran the Hawks ragged in the end — the exuberance of youth blowing the Hawks away in a semi-final that signalled an emphatic changing of the guard.
A Hawks unit up for so long, was hunted to every corner of the MCG in the second half by a relentless, hungry challenger.
When the curtain came down on Hawthorn’s season, the final score was 16.11 (107) to 12.12 (84). The Dogs players embraced; the Hawks stood stunned.
Best: Bontempelli, Picken, Macrae, Dunkley, Dahlhaus, Liberatore, Smith
- Sam Edmund
Match highlights: Western Bulldogs v Hawthorn
The Age
As poetic justice would have it, at the heart of all the Bulldogs did was Roughead, Jordan, cousin of the invalided and acutely missed Hawk Jarryd.
Four goals in a row in the postscript that was the last quarter saved Hawthorn a little face.
The picture at the final siren was worth its thousand words, the exultant Bulldogs mobbing Caleb Daniel as he kicked from the goal square, the Hawks rooted to their spots all over the ground, immobile as pillars of salt.
The day that had to come had arrived.
But the same might be said of the Bulldogs.
Best: Bontempelli, Daniel, Liberatore, Macrae, Roughead, Hunter, Picken, Biggs, Dahlhaus, Smith.
AFL Media
THERE was a reason Marcus Bontempelli was the youngest member of this year's All Australian side – he stands up for his team when it needs him to.
And boy, did the 20-year-old rise to the occasion in the Bulldogs' pulsating 23-point semi-final win over Hawthorn.
Squaring off against some of the biggest-game players of the modern era, Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge and Shaun Burgoyne, Bontempelli beat them at their own game. His performance marked a changing of the guard as he lifted his side to a memorable win.
Best: Bontempelli, Macrae, Picken, Smith, Dunkley, Dahlhaus
- Ben Guthrie
