The eight point win against Collingwood provided some validation to the playing group Daniel Giansiracusa says, pointing to the growing maturity of the team as a positive from the game.

“That’s all it is, if you bring effort and intensity, you will keep yourself in the game and we were right in it,” Giansiracusa said.

“I think guys were getting tired late but it was good to show a fair bit of maturity late in the game because they were coming at us and we knew they were going to.”

Giansiracusa found himself immersed in the state of play earlier than anticipated, when substituted on to replace an injured Adam Cooney in the first term.

The 32-year-old did not miss a beat, however, accumulating 22 disposals (90.9% efficiency) as well as impacting the scoreboard with one goal and three assists – as one of the Bulldogs best performed players.

But it wasn’t left to the experienced heads at the Bulldogs to solidify the win, with a number of the Club’s young players fronting up to challenge when the game intensified.

The sealer came from Jason Tutt when Marcus Bontempelli spotted up the small forward in space late in the game and the 23-year-old kicked truly.

“To respond there and sort of shut the game down through repeat stoppages and then when we got our hands on the ball to find a mark and move the ball forward and get it in Tutty’s hands for him to seal the game was really good,” he said.