THE WESTERN Bulldogs have won a thrilling shootout against Adelaide at Etihad Stadium, holding on in a desperate finish to win by 15 points on Saturday night.
After falling 24 points behind in the final quarter, Adelaide mounted a brave last-ditch bid to steal the game but was denied, with the Bulldogs winning 18.15 (123) to 17.6 (108).
The final minutes were frantic, with Adelaide trailing by just three points with less than two minutes to play when Crows forward Josh Jenkins kicked his eighth goal.
But young star Marcus Bontempelli stepped up to seal the win, marking on the lead and kicking the match-winning goal from 50m before Bailey Dale added a cherry on top after the siren.
In a return to their early season form, the Bulldogs kicked their highest score of the season to give the biggest indication yet they can overcome their injuries and match it with the best.
A shootout should have suited the high-scoring Crows, but the Bulldogs were on a mission to thrill and played brave, high-tempo football, taking the game on at every chance.
Led by Bomtempelli (30 possessions and two goals), their midfield won the clearance battle 41-24 and gave them a massive inside 50 advantage of 68-37.
Tom Liberatore (25 and nine clearances) and Mitch Wallis (26 and seven) were keys to the midfield dominance, while star forward Jake Stringer played a thrilling cameo to kick four goals.
Slick with the ball, they were also hard as nails in defence, with veteran Dale Morris locking down dangerous small forward Eddie Betts and keeping the hero from last year's elimination final goalless.
Jenkins played a lone role forward at times, with Tom Lynch chipping in with three goals and Charlie Cameron (two goals) stepping up in the dying moments to keep his team in the contest.
The Bulldogs rediscovered the fast, flawless, corridor football they started the season with and added a little more unselfishness for good measure.
After having "a few moments he'd want back" against North Melbourne in round six, Stringer had made some obvious adjustments to his game for the better.
The brilliance and trademark power was still there and on show when he evaded two tacklers to snap a goal in the first quarter, but he was also handballing to players in better positions every chance he got.
One of the highlights of the game came late in the first quarter when Stringer won a contest in the pocket and then slapped the ball out of mid-air and into the goalsquare where Caleb Daniel was waiting to soccer the ball through.
Tough as nails in defence, the Bulldogs were not giving the Crows any room to move and had their opponents panicking as soon as they got the ball.
They built a 35-point lead early in the second quarter, but that was reeled in by the Crows on the back of Jenkins in a match that did justice to the thrilling elimination final played between the teams nearly eight months.
WESTERN BULLDOGS 6.3 9.7 14.11 18.15 (123)
ADELAIDE 2.3 6.5 12.5 17.6 (108)
GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Stringer 4, Dickson 3, Redpath 3, Daniel 2, Dale 2, Bontempelli 2, Liberatore, Wallis
Adelaide: Jenkins 8, Lynch 3, Cameron 2, Jacobs, Atkins, Sloane, Walker
BEST
Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli, Liberatore, Stringer, Dahlhaus, Wallis, Morris
Adelaide: Jenkins, Crouch, Henderson, Smith
INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Stringer (corked quad)
Adelaide: Walker (knee)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Donlon, Bannister, Pannell
Official crowd: 26,984 at Etihad Stadium
