The Western Bulldogs fell short of causing a boil over when they pushed top-four fancies Essendon to the brink of defeat in a tough encounter at Etihad Stadium yesterday.  

Despite eventually losing by 31 points, Bulldogs’ 2012 first round draftee Nathan Hrovat said his teammates set a new standard in their relentless attack on the football.

“Everyone was having a crack in… that is obviously something that we pride ourselves on, our contested ball,” Hrovat said

“Being able to just work our way into that and chip away at that at the game is, I guess, what’s got to be one of our strengths going forward.

“The contested ball, the ferocity around the ground was fantastic.”

The Bulldogs currently average almost 11 more contested possessions and six extra clearances than their direct opponent – the highest differential in both categories across the league.

That trend continued in round 16, winning 32 more contested possessions and six more clearances than Essendon.

Hrovat’s influence saw him rank equal second on field in contested possessions, while also finding four clearances and four tackles.

“We spoke about it after the game, how for the majority of the time we were in the contest and we played the game contest by contest,” he said.

“There were areas that we obviously need to get better at but our contested ball, our inside 50s were really good, we just need to capitalise on those sorts of stats.”