ON FRIDAY night, it was back to basics.
The end result? The Bulldogs were back in town.
The match may have lacked the impressive flair of our opening round win, but the positives that came with it are impossible to ignore.
Positive number one – Luke Darcy and Robert Murphy. While ‘Murph’ has recently looked out of his depth and low on confidence, ‘Darc’ has been appearing – scarily – like the pace of the game has passed him by.
Two years out means you can't expect the big man to slot back into the side and embrace the quickening nature of the game, but in the past fortnight, there would have been more than one supporter wondering if ‘Darc’ was ever going to be the influential player he once was.
Eight goals later – four to each – and the Dogs have won by 32 points, halting a two-match losing streak and giving a pair of recovering knee surgery patients a new lease on life.
Darcy started at full-forward and had three goals to his name by red time in the opening term. Murphy bobbed up in the fourth to kick two crucial goals that assured the Dogs of victory.
Welcome back, boys.
Positive number two – the ball-getters were at their finest and did it without Daniel Cross, while the forwards got the job done with Brad Johnson providing little influence.
Between Jordan McMahon, Lindsay Gilbee and Scott West – the three highest-possessing Bulldogs - 83 touches were recorded.
Cross was a late withdrawal and we had two debutants in the side, but between the fleet-footed running of the trio mentioned above, coupled with stand-in performances by Matthew Boyd and Daniel Giansiracusa, we exposed the Tigers' lack of polish.
Johnson was kept to just one goal by Joel Bowden, but eight from Darcy and Murphy, four from Adam Cooney, and two from Shaun Higgins and late inclusion Matthew Robbins, as well as singles from four other players, demonstrated a multi-pronged attacking structure sure to give Alastair Clarkson a headache this week.
Positive number three – we won. Four points and a boost in self-confidence will come from this win.
The Tigers have been thereabouts in recent weeks, and were good in patches on Friday night. Had we not halted their momentum in the third term when they narrowed our 39-point deficit to only 22, they could have run right over the top of us.
The focus now is to take the positives from the win – and not get carried away with the fact it was obtained in the first place. Learning from your mistakes is a big part of sporting success, and we clearly can't afford to go congratulating each other too much just yet.
Just look at what happened in round one.
The players won't need reminding the hard work is only just beginning. They now face a confident Hawthorn side that derailed Geelong on the weekend, after finding a way to dismantle its dominating forward structure.
The Hawks' come-from-behind win will give them the assurance they need to come into Sunday's match with genuine belief. While we can enter the clash with a similar mindset, we need to ensure it works to our advantage and not against us.
Their defenders are on song but we have a talented attacking structure capable of finding the gaps. Brad Sewell and Luke Hodge were damaging against Geelong, while Mark Williams kicked three. They're no easy-beats.
Jason Akermanis might return and we're all praying the rejuvenation of Murphy and Darcy is only just beginning. Let's tip the tally in favour of wins and consolidate last Friday night's performance.
