The Western Bulldogs streak of consecutive wins has come to an end at the hands of the second-placed Southern Saints, falling by 15-points at Trevor Barker Beach Oval, on Sunday afternoon.
Entering the Round 11 VFL Women’s match-up in fourth place on the ladder, the visiting Bulldogs trailed at every change, eventually falling 3.3 (21) to the Saints 5.6 (36).
The home side gained momentum in the first half, creating the bulk of the scoring opportunities.
The Saints kept the Bulldogs scoreless in the first quarter, while kicking two goals of their own, to hold a 13-point lead at the first change.
It took until the 15 minute mark of the second term for the Bulldogs to hit the scoreboard, with AFLW captain Ellie Blackburn booting one major in her return game. The Southern Saints again peppered the goals late in the quarter without success, but carried a 14-point lead in to half time.
Restricted to just the one behind in the third term, while the Saints added another goal to their tally, it was the Bulldogs that got off to a fast start in the final term adding consecutive goals through Celine Moody and Mickayla Ward to close the margin to 8-points.
That would be the closest the Bulldogs would get, with the Saints steadying through Caitlin Grieser’s third goal of the game and extending their advantage back out to 15-points by the final siren.
The Bulldogs will head to Ballarat’s MARS Stadium next Saturday (27 July) to host the NT Thunder, with the first bounce at 2pm.
MATCH DETAILS
Southern Saints 2.1 3.3 4.4 5.6 (36)
Western Bulldogs 0.0 1.1 1.2 3.3 (21)
GOALS:
Southern Saints:C. Greiser 3, A. Brown, T. Bohanna
Western Bulldogs: E. Blackburn, C. Moody, M. Ward
