What were the media saying after the Bulldogs' loss to the Kangaroos on Saturday night.
The Age (Jon Pierik)
(Billy) Gowers, enjoying a break-out night with 22 touches and three goals, ran into goal to regain the lead with two minutes remaining, it seemed he had solidified an unlikely win. It wasn’t to be but this was a performance the Dogs had long been searching for.
The Bulldogs were determined to make a statement early and did that through their pressure. They were fierce at the contest, with Caleb Daniel, Toby McLean, Hayden Crozier and Marcus Bontempelli finding plenty of the ball early and were prepared to take risks and go through the corridor.
The Dogs had 21 tackles, highlighting their tone. They had more than 60 per cent of the ball inside their attacking 50 in the term but could not capitalise to the degree they had hoped
BEST: Gowers, Crozier, McLean, Wallis.
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AFL Media (Marc McGowan)
The Bulldogs proceeded to break the game open in the first five minutes of the second term.
They doubled their goal tally inside 60 seconds from free kicks, starting with Zaine Cordy, who kicked truly then sparked a melee when he got into Tarrant's face afterwards.
But Kangaroo Marley Williams' decision to drag Gowers to the ground gifted the impressive Bulldog a shot at goal, which he slotted to put his side 18 points clear.
They maintained that buffer to half-time, thriving off their defensive effort – peaking at a 313 pressure rating, more than 130 above the AFL average – and ability to link up away from the contest.
Hayden Crozier was the instigator for much of that, the ex-Dockers defender winning 23 of his career-high 30 disposals in the first two quarters before Kayne Turner dulled his influence.
BEST: Crozier, Naughton, Hunter, McLean, Gowers
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Herald Sun (Sam Edmond)
With nine first-choice Dogs watching from the stands and at least another three out there playing sore, you figured it was going to get ugly against a Roos side that had won three of its past four and was in finals contention.
That it didn’t was because for all the manpower the Dogs were lacking, they had rediscovered something far more important — spirit.
Marcus Adams and Dale Morris added steel to the backline, Tom Boyd rucked bravely, Hayden Crozier had 23 disposals in the first half on a back flank and Lachie Hunter was industrious.
BEST: Crozier, Gowers, Hunter, Adams, McLean, Morris
