Western Bulldogs ruckman Tim English had a big say in the outcome of his team’s finals-clinching victory over Fremantle on Sunday night.
As he has done many times already in 2020, English was strong in the ruck contest, but he inflicted most of his damage on the opposition with his work around the ground.
He gathered 14 disposals against the Dockers (nine contested), had three clearances, six score involvements and booted two goals.
In the dying stages, he gathered a ground ball at centre half forward, sprung forward and took a bounce as he converged on goal, but unselfishly passed to his skipper Marcus Bontempelli, who secured the Dogs’ 30-point win.
English has kicked multiple goals on just four occasions in his emerging career so far. Two of those have come in the past fortnight.
He’s hitting form at just the right time of the year, when the Bulldogs will need him most.
An Elimination Final awaits the young Dogs for the second straight year.
“It’s an amazing feeling. It’s been a really hard journey for a lot of us. The travel and the hub – it’s a different experience for everyone,” English told Bulldogs Media after the game.
“To be able to get the reward of finals footy is something the group is really excited for.
“It is an achievement playing finals footy. If it was easy, everyone would do it. It’s tough.
“I know that the group’s really excited for that moment moving forward, and can’t wait for the next match.”
Despite having to wait until the Sunday night of the final round of the home and away season to learn their finals fate, and working through all of the permutations of the games before them, English said the Bulldogs’ mindset was razor sharp.
“We were always going to come up here with the attitude that we need to win,” he said.
“Obviously we had the luck that we knew the results going into the game, but it didn’t change our mentality. I thought the guys executed really well.”
