The Good
Assistant Coach Shannon Grant says one of the most pleasing signs of the day was seeing the young Bulldogs stocks producing some good results. Mitch Wallis, Luke Dahlhaus, Tom Liberatore, Jordan Roughead and Ayce Cordy all showed progress against North Melbourne and are really starting to show positive signs towards their development.
Stat that Matters
The Dogs won the stoppages against North Melbourne registering ten clearances more than the Kangaroos. It was a mix of experience and youth that dominated the stat with Matthew Boyd winning 10 clearances with Tom Liberatore (6), Mitch Wallis (5), Ryan Griffen (5) and Luke Dahlhaus (5) also instrumental in the area.
Contested footy was another area where the Bulldogs prevailed registering 54 more contested possessions than North Melbourne (WB177, NM123). Nine Bulldogs players registered more than ten contested possessions with Boyd leading the pack with 19. The Dogs also dominated in contested marks with North Melbourne taking eight contested marks to the Bulldogs 22.
Player of the Day
Brian Lake’s solid efforts stood out during the match with Grant awarding him the player of the day. Lake has been influential in the past two rounds, holding two of the best key forwards in North’s Drew Petrie and Collingwood’s Travis Cloke to three and two goals respectively. Finding his feet after an injury interrupted pre-season, Lake looks to be returning to his All Australian winning form with 26 possessions, 12 marks and 6 rebound 50s.
Dream Team Analysis
• Matthew Boyd topped off a 44 possession game with a Toyota AFL Dream Team Score of 162 points. He also took seven marks, had 10 clearances and five inside 50s.
• Repeating Round six’s personal best 12 inside 50s, Ryan Griffen produced another solid game. He collected 31 disposals, four marks and laid six tackles. His efforts saw him score 118 Dream Team Points.
• Young gun Mitch Wallis continued to step it up a gear this week looking relentless around the stoppages and in his second efforts. Wallis notched up 28 disposals, eight tackles, five clearances and slotted through a goal. The result was a 119 point Dream Team score.
