Speed thrills
A week is a long time in football, just ask Jason Johannisen.
Tagged out of it last weekend against the Power, Beveridge backed in his man in to fire against the Saints, and fire he did, playing one of the best games of his a career.
Johannisen was electric on Saturday night. A blur with ball in hand, the Saints just couldn’t catch him as he laid on a career high 42 disposals at 83%, including 34 after quarter time.
Throw in eight intercepts, eight score involvements, 12 rebound-50s, five inside-50s and 830 metres gained and the 25-year-old answered every question asked of him.
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Cometh the hour
Are there many players in the game that can be as damaging as Marcus Bontempelli can be off of a handful of touches?
The stand in skipper looked to be labouring a fraction in the first half; he had two touches in the first quarter and four in the second and just couldn’t get in the game.
And then he did. In a major way. As he does.
Hayden Crozier described them as ‘little half chances’ to westernbulldogs.com.au post-match, but when the ball went near the big #4 in the third quarter he didn’t need much time or space to crush the Saints’ spirit.
Goals at the 12, 19, 26 and 28 minute mark seemed to come of a total of about eight steps. Gather, step, goal. Times four.
Half chance, full impact.
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The premiership quarter
Before Saturday night, the Dogs had won just four third quarters for the season. That’s one less than Essendon and the Gold Coast, so fans could have been forgiven for holding their breath as the two sides marched back out for the second half.
Nerves were calmed somewhat when Patrick Lipinski put one through in the opening minute, but a full twelve minutes would go by before the next one. But they needn’t have worried; there was an edge to the Dogs on Saturday night, and the damn wall would eventually break and all of a sudden the Dogs had played their best third term for the year, and by a considerable margin.
After Bontempelli’s first put the Dogs 19-points ahead there was a look about the celebration that hadn’t been seen in a while. There was an edge, it seemed to say confidence, and the Bulldog boot never left the throat after that.
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Roarke Smith
The hearts of Dogs fans, and probably a few neutrals too, sunk when young defender Roarke Smith was slow to get up after a bruising Jack Newnes tackle during the first quarter.
It’s been rough fortnight for the hugely popular 21-year-old, who a couple of Fridays ago found himself and teammate Kieran Collins in a car accident on their way to training.
Both players had been ruled out for the following week but returned to play this weekend, only for Smith to have his night end prematurely after hitting his head on the ground in the tackle.
Beveridge said post-match that he’s ‘alright’, but ‘we’ll need to be careful with him now.’
After a promising career interrupted by two knee reconstructions and having played nine games this season after managing two in the previous three, here’s hoping it’s not long before we see the surfer from Sunbury back out there again.
