Footscray were left to rue missed opportunities on Saturday afternoon, going down to Coburg by 12-points despite eight more scoring shots than the Lions on a heavy deck at Piranha Park.

Koby Stevens was impressive in his return to football after recovering from an abdominal strain, but his 39 possessions, six marks, and seven inside 50s were not enough to get the Dogs over the line.

Footscray gave the Lions a three goal head-start on a day that was always going to be difficult to score, and were never able to overtake the Lions despite edging close on multiple occasions.

Power forward Tom Boyd kept the Dogs in it with his four goals, the big man seeming to bob up each time Coburg looked to be getting away.

The Dogs got within three points at three quarter time when Boyd kicked his fourth but the Dogs would only add five behinds in the final term, the Lions doing just enough to get the four points.

Speaking to westernbulldogs.com.au after the match, coach Ashley Hansen said he was impressed with Boyd’s afternoon, despite plenty of attention from the opposition.

“I thought he was our only forward that looked consistently threatening," Hansen said.

“He took some strong marks on a tough day and was certainly one of our better players.”

In positive news, youngster Roarke Smith got through his first match since August last season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament late last season.

Smith didn’t fill up the stats sheet, but his coach was very happy with his performance.

“He showed some really good signs, Roarkey, in his first game back," Hansen said.

“He took some fantastic intercept marks, was good in the air, and some of his decisions with ball in hand were sharp.

“It was great to see him get through the game.”


Coburg Lions              5.3       9.5       11.5    13.7  (85)

Footscray Bulldogs     2.2       5.6       9.14     9.19 (73)

GOALS: Tom Boyd 4, Mitch Honeychurch, Josh Wallis, Shaun Wyatt, Tom Campbell, Joel Hamling

DISPOSALS: Koby Stevens 39, Mitch Honeychurch 29, Kieran Collins 23, Declan Hamilton 22, Jordan Russell, Josh Wallis 21, Jed Adcock 20, Tom Boyd, JD Hayes 17.

BEST: Koby Stevens, Mitch Honeychurch, Tom Boyd, Jordan Russell, Jed Adcock, Josh Wallis

VENUE: Piranha Park, Coburg.