The Age
At three quarter time at the MCG Tom Liberatore laid 17 tackles. He clamped seven tackles on in the first quarter alone. The record for the most tackles in a game is 19.
Liberatore equalled the record.
He teased at the idea of breaking it, but it proved unnecessary to overly exert in a final quarter when the work had already been done and the heat was out of the game.
His tackling also spoke to the depth of game that the Bulldogs possess. This was the team that excited with its high energy, fast sling shot run from the half back line last year but is still predicated on the ball and man hunting game.
The Dogs defensively suffocate around the ball and create the real and implied pressure on the opposition when they have the ball.
The Bulldogs now sit third on the ladder and play GWS next week in Sydney. Generational change is upon us.
- Michael Gleeson
Herald Sun
THIS was the resounding win born out of the largely unsuccessful Footscray side of the early 1990s.
Twenty years after Mark Hunter, Tony Liberatore and Steve Wallis last shared a footy field with current coach Luke Beveridge, their sons Lachie, Tom and Mitch put Melbourne to the sword at the MCG yesterday.
There was 19 tackles from Little Libba, which equalled the AFL record held by Jude Bolton and Jack Ziebell.
There was a game-high 34 disposals from Lachie Hunter, the ball magnet quickly blossoming into an AFL star.
And there was another workmanlike game from Mitch Wallis, whose third-quarter goal shut the gate.
AFL Media
The Bulldogs kept in-form Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn to just six disposals and two marks, as Jordan Roughead and Tom Campbell consistently worked him over.
The defensive partnership of Fletcher Roberts and Dale Morris kept an off-target Jesse Hogan, who booted 1.3 for the day, on a tight leash.
The Bulldogs continue to meet every challenge that is thrown at them, but Beveridge's side will find out where they really sit in the overall scheme of things when they run into the in-form Giants next week
- Ben Guthrie
