THE WESTERN Bulldogs have produced one of the greatest finals wins in the club's history, stunning West Coast by 47 points at Domain Stadium to march into a semi-final.
The Bulldogs had never previously won a final interstate but an extraordinary execution of pressure, team defence and counter-attack saw them end the Eagles' season, winning 14.15 (99) to 7.10 (52).
The Eagles will face plenty of questions from this result.
They were the first team in league history to register 16 wins and miss the top-four, but they saved their worst performance of the season for a cut-throat final. It was their largest loss in a home final and their second-lowest score of the season.
The decision to play an injured Scott Lycett and Mitch Brown in the same side backfired. Lycett was severely hampered by his left knee injury throughout the night while Brown had little impact with the exception of a gifted goal in the goal square.
But the Bulldogs thoroughly deserved their victory.
They won the contested possession count by 23 and the clearances by eight to set the tone in the midfield.
Lachie Hunter ignited them in the opening term when Marcus Bontempelli was well held by Mark Hutchings. Tom Liberatore and Luke Dahlhaus also did a power of work inside.
Liam Picken was outstanding all night and kicked two goals from two excellent contested marks and Matthew Boyd was phenomenal in defence, but the entire defensive unit deserves praise.
The Bulldogs had 11 individual goalkickers and kicked their highest score since round 17.
The Eagles had few winners.
Andrew Gaff, Chris Masten and Luke Shuey worked hard but their disposals weren't damaging due to the Bulldogs' pressure. The Eagles kicked at just 62 per cent efficiency for the night.
Hutchings did a good job on Bontempelli in the first half. Sam Butler, Shannon Hurn and Brad Sheppard worked hard in defence but were under siege throughout.
The Bulldogs applied ferocious pressure on the Eagles from the opening bounce and never relented.
They wasted some opportunities early, kicking three behinds to the Eagles' two goals in the opening 10 minutes. But from there they kicked nine of the next 10 goals, including seven in a row, to stun the Eagles crowd into silence.
The Bulldogs ability to force the Eagles' defence to defend rather than zone off and intercept was a huge key. They produced 29 scores from 55 entries and could have won by more had they taken a few more chances.
At the other end they kept the Eagles to their lowest score at home since 2014.
Josh Kennedy was held to just two goals. The Bulldogs kept the Coleman medallist to just one goal back in round 11.
The home side was unable to expose the Dogs for height, taking just nine marks inside 50 to the Bulldogs 12
The win did come at a cost as the Bulldogs suffered yet another serious injury with Lin Jong damaging his shoulder when he was tackled in the second term. Jong's season appears to be over as a result.
MEDICAL ROOM
West Coast: Lycett carried his knee problem into the game. He hurt laying a tackle in the first term and had to go to the rooms. He returned to play out the game but was clearly hampered throughout.
Western Bulldogs: Jong was ruled out in the second term immediately after he came from the ground.
WEST COAST 2.3 3.6 5.9 7.10 (52)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 4.4 7.6 11.0 14.15 (99)
GOALS
West Coast: Darling 2, Kennedy 2, Hill, Brown, LeCras
Western Bulldogs: Picken 2, Dickson 2, Dunkley 2, Dahlhaus, Hunter, Daniel, Liberatore, Smith, Roughead, Bontempelli, Stringer
BEST
West Coast: Hutchings, Gaff, Shuey, Butler, Hurn
Western Bulldogs: Dahlhaus, Daniel, Boyd, Picken, Hunter, Johannisen
INJURIES
West Coast: Nil
Western Bulldogs: Jong (right shoulder)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Farmer, Rosebury, Schmitt
Official crowd: 42,079 at the Domain Stadium
