A centre clearance masterclass from the Western Bulldogs was the catalyst for their match-winning surge in the final quarter of Friday night’s clash with GWS in Canberra.

With the match finely poised heading into the last quarter, the Dogs surged with nine last-term majors, with their on-ball brigade leading the way.

Led by the ruckwork of Stefan Martin and Tim English, the Bulldogs finished the game with 14 more clearances, including a lopsided 17-7 centre clearance result.

Skipper Marcus Bontempelli and hard nut Tom Liberatore were prolific with seven each for the game, closely followed by Adam Treloar and Jack Macrae (six each).

Treloar, Bontempelli and Martin combined for nine clearances in the fourth stanza, with several directly resulting in goals.

“It was such an enormous effort by the boys to break loose like we did in the last quarter,” coach Luke Beveridge said after the game.

“We held our nerve.  Boys that weren’t necessarily having their best outings, they really persevered and stood up extraordinarily well in the last quarter.

“It just came together through stealth and through their work ethic.  It’s a terrific win in the end.

“There were some marginal things in the early part of the game – we didn’t feel like we were on top of things.

“To see the stoppage scoring differential be such a landslide in our favour – I think we ended up kicking four goals from centre bounce too – it’s a mighty effort.

“That centre bounce is a bit a slippery, and it’s hard for the players to find their footing and be sure of themselves, so to come out clean a few times and hit our forwards up, in the conditions too, was an extremely good outcome in that last quarter.”

The Bulldogs face reigning premier Richmond in another Friday night blockbuster in Round 7 at the MCG.