Game Chat – Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs

Written by Father Dougal on March 31 2019

Where and when: MCG, Sunday March 31, 3.20pm AEDT

Last time they met: Marvel Stadium, round 16, 2018. Western Bulldogs 9.5 (59) lost to Hawthorn 19.8 (122)

Hawthorn star Luke Breust led the charge as the Hawks obliterated the Bulldogs by 63 points. Breust kicked a career-best six goals, four of those in the first term, while Jarryd Roughead and Jack Gunston booted four apiece. Daniel Howe had the job tagging star Marcus Bontempelli, with the Dogs vice-captain gathering 23 possessions but he had little impact. The loss for the Dogs effectively ended their hopes of making the finals.

What it means for Hawthorn: Many pundits didn’t have Hawthorn in the top eight this season, and while a shock win over the Crows may have swayed a few, the Hawks need to keep the momentum going and bank as many early wins as possible.

What it means for Western Bulldogs: The last time the Bulldogs beat the Hawks was in a semi-final during their premiership-winning year. If they can nab the four points here, the confidence levels at the Kennel will be sky-high.

How Hawthorn wins: It was an even contribution across the board against the Crows. Ben McEvoy was impressive in the ruck, and if he can continue his dominance and give first use to young Hawks James Worpel and Jaeger O’Meara, they will be hard to stop.

How Western Bulldogs wins: Round one saw the Bulldogs return to the manic pressure that delivered them a premiership in 2016. If they can keep that up, it will go a long way to stopping the Hawks in their tracks.

The stat: The Bulldogs struggled last year when it came to entries inside 50. They were ranked 12th in the competition, averaging 52 per game. Already there is a huge improvement in 2019, with 68 against the Swans in the opening round, which has them leading the competition.

The match-up: James Sicily v Aaron Naughton

Aaron Naughton announced himself as the Bulldogs’ No.1 forward against the Swans, his athleticism and presence causing plenty of headaches for the Sydney defence. He kicked three goals and took five marks inside 50. James Frawley probably doesn’t have the speed to keep up with Naughton, with young Hawk James Sicily a better match-up. Sicily spent time on Taylor Walker in round one and kept him goalless, while having 26 disposals, 15 rebound 50s and taking 10 marks himself.

It’s a big week for: Chad Wingard

The question is will he play? He has said publicly that he is eyeing off a return in round two following a pre-season marred by a troublesome calf. Should he make his debut for the brown and gold, he’ll need a good showing to justify to the Hawks giving up young gun Ryan Burton and last year’s pick 15 in the NAB AFL Draft.

Father Dougals’s Tip: Dogs by 3. I feel like the Dogs are on their way up and the Hawks are on their way down. I have low confidence in this pick, because I do not like counting out a team coached by Alistair Clarkson.

**Our Admin isn’t always online.  If you have access to the SuperCoach scores, the SCT Coaches would be very appreciative if you could pop them into the comments below. Thank you!**

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36 thoughts on “Game Chat – Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs”

  1. Final teams #AFLHawksDogs: Bailey Williams (rested) has been replaced by Lewis Young.

    No changes for the Hawks.

    FINAL INTERCHANGES
    Hawthorn: J.Ceglar, T.Scully, J.Scrimshaw, J.Cousins
    Western Bulldogs: B.Smith, J.Schache, T.Duryea, E.Richards

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  2. No, Bulldogs, stay down. Need the Hawks and Dockers to win for 9/9 in the tipping this week.

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      1. I would love to blame the umps but the Doggies should be further in front, dominating contested possession.

        The umpires will always reward the team getting their hands dirty and have done so today. Echoes of 2016 Doggies!

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  3. Will having Scott’s 26 on the field affect me significantly or is it pretty common?

    T/U Bad Luck

    T/D Bad luck to us all

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    1. Don’t stress, Roo. Pretty much everyone who had Scott will have fielded him after last week’s performance.

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        1. Knew there would be that one savant who was gonna stick his hand up and proclaim “not me!”.

          Nicely done, Thommo. I’m jealous.

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          1. I would love to say I’m a genius but I didn’t check teams early enough to swing Moore back and Parker on field to replace Ridley. Cost myself a bit unless Collins goes larger than expected.

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    2. He probably scored more on that, as results are only up to 3/4 time. Been an error with the site and the scoring

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  4. Looks like all formats are down … jkey stats for the key players (SC wise) seems to be OK as follows at HT:
    PLayer Kick HB Mk Tkle FK (F/A) CP DE
    Doggies
    Macrae 7 8 5 1 0/0 6 73%
    Bont 7 2 2 3 1/0 3 33%
    Dunk 5 1 1 3 1/0 3 100%

    Hawks
    JOM 13 4 1 3 0/1 8 47%
    Siciliy 10 1 2 0 0/0 4 81%
    Worpel 5 7 1 1 0/0 6 58%

    Not the best … anyone keen to add the scores can try from there!!

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  5. Trust all sites to be down on a Sunday..
    If you don’t have bailey Scott in your team you shouldn’t be playing SuperCoach!! and if you have Bailey Scott in your team and benched him your a supercoach god!!

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  6. I think Champion Data went down early in the 3rd quarter… Neale did not move at all in the last quarter, Scott the same…

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    1. Neale ended up with 43 disposals, 18 kicks, 25HB, 7 mrk, 6 tckle, 1 free against, 16 CPs and 79%DE – think he should be quite large … fingers crossed as an owner!!

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  7. Actually I take my earlier comments back. The final quarter umpiring was a disgrace and directly affected the result.

    That is not what footy is about.

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    1. Whoever gave the thumb down can kiss my hairy white arse. 2 goals from centre bounce free kicks in the final 5 min plus 2 free kick reversals in the second half to gift one team the lead ruined what would have been an awesome finish.

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        1. I was trying for a pb on thumbs down, Weendog!

          But seriously, am I the only person getting sick of obvious AFL directives going out each week. Last week you could hit players off the ball without a free kick or suspension, only a fine, this week any contact is over-policed with Cox being a victim.

          Today the Doggies were surging and a good chance to win but over umpiring disrupted the match badly. I love a cliff hanger and the entire crowd was left confused by the decisions. It killed the atmosphere.

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  8. I feel like a bit of a nuffie saying this but Dunks your gone mate. Bloody Bevo playing him fwd smh..

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  9. Thank God i fielded Libba over scott lol would’ve just deleted my team,
    Dunkley thoooo….. do we trade him to a Boak type?
    Only made the one trade thus far (Hanley the irish spud to Ballard)

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