westernbulldogs.com.au identifies the three keys to Sunday's win over Essendon.

The bite was back

There were eight minutes remaining in the second term when Bomber speedster Conor McKenna gathered the ball in what he thought was some space. Taking off down the broadcast side, he either overestimated his ability to get away or didn’t recognise Tory Dickson’s new haircut, because Dickson was all over the Irishman before he had chance to look upfield.

As Luke Beveridge said post-match, the chase and tackle were symbolic of the Dogs being back to their physical, pressure-packed best, while the Bomber ball-carriers were being harassed into a constant string of clangers and intercepts.  

The middle men

The midfield racked up video game stats on Sunday, with the Bulldog runners making up eight of the top ten spots on the disposal chart. Lachie Hunter (35), Luke Dahlhaus (31) and Jack Macrae (30) all had thirty or more, while only David Zaharakis and Dyson Heppell rated a mention for the visitors.

Even where Essendon did have an advantage (38-22 hitouts), the Bulldogs were still dominant in first possession wins at stoppages, sharking Tom Bellchambers all afternoon, leading to a 56-44 advantage in inside 50s.

And although he goal-kicking wasn’t as sharp as they’d like, their 23 marks in the arc would have pleased the coach.

Tag team champs

While Wrestlemania rages at the New Orleans Superdome on Monday, there was a tag-team of a different kind at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Widely acknowledged as one of the better midfielders in the competition, Zach Merrett was always going to be a key to Bomber fortunes if he were to get off the leash, but Mitch Honeychurch and Luke Dahlhaus had other ideas.

It was tough day at the office for the Bomber champ hunted and corralled into just 16 disposals and three clangers; a big win for Dahl and The Badger.