Bulldogs lick their wounds but have brighter days ahead

As the Western Bulldogs absorbed the pain of their grand final capitulation, they were at least comforted by the news that captain Marcus Bontempelli is free to play in round one next year, with the man himself pointing to brighter days ahead.

Western Bulldogs stars Marcus Bontempelli and Bailey Smith after the final siren.Credit:AFL Photos

The star Bulldog appeared to bump Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver high during the second quarter of Saturday night’s season finale at Optus Stadium, but match review officer Michael Christian on Sunday found that Bontempelli had no case to answer.

Indeed, the AFL did not even deem Bontempelli’s hit worthy of an explanation.

“No charges were laid and there were no further incidents that required a detailed explanation,” the AFL said in a statement.

Clayton Oliver tackles Marcus Bontempelli.Credit:AFL Photos

This also meant that Bulldog Caleb Daniel is in the clear following his third term tussle with Demons captain Max Gawn, in which the ruckman’s head landed on the rough artificial turf next to the boundary line.

Speaking after the game, Bontempelli said the last quarter and a half, in which the Dogs conceded 16 of the game’s last 17 goals, had been uncharacteristic.

“You have to obviously do your best to acknowledge what’s happened and be realistic and be truthful,” Bontempelli said. “But I think the honest reflection is it just wasn’t us today, especially the second half of the game.”

Bontempelli was asked to put a finger on what went wrong in the maelstrom that started at the 16-minute mark of the third term, from which point Melbourne outscored the Dogs by 93 points.

The skipper said, ultimately, his team’s midfielders had afforded their Demon counterparts too much latitude.

“They just started to get access probably straight away and be able to get out the front too easy of the stoppage,” Bontempelli said.

“You probably saw [Clayton] Oliver and [Christian] Petracca and others coming out, particularly of the centre bounce too easily and that just put our defence and our backs under way too much pressure.

“When they get such quality looks out of those scoring opportunities, and blatant ones, they’re really hard to defend so we just gave them too much access. We came in and the ball probably popped out. And just too much uncontested ball and freedom out of there.

“You’re always trying to strike a balance [between inside and outside]...you’re trying to risk manage the outside a little bit by taking care of the inside.

“Their looks were too good for our defence to defend.”

But with No.1 draft pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan waiting in the wings, and another top three selection likely in the form of father-son player Sam Darcy, Bontempelli was optimistic there were brighter days to come for his side.

“There is upside, a lot of our young players played extremely well through the back half [of the season] and most of the finals, really, with what they were able to contribute to get us to this point.

“We acknowledge how difficult it is to make a grand final and that’s a milestone in itself. But the endeavour has to be there now, to bounce back, [to] lick our wounds.

“No doubt this will sting for a little bit but try to make something of it.

“You try and absorb as much as you can from today that you can use going forward ... I’ve got to try my best to set the tone and set the direction.”

Bontempelli said the Dogs would remain in Perth for a few days to debrief and unwind.

“We’ll spend a few days together here until the group splits up a little bit, people will head home and some will stay around to get some R&R and reflect on what’s been a difficult season, but hopefully reflect on a lot of the good stuff,” he added.

“That’s probably the start for us as a group, to move past this point and start to move on.”

The Dogs had fought from the bottom half of the top eight to make the grand final, travelling from Melbourne to Tasmania, to Queensland, to Western Australia, to South Australia, and then back to WA as part of a trying month-long journey on the road.

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