Carlton’s AFL finals hopes face a major obstacle next Saturday if the Western Bulldogs produce the same fierceness they showed against Sydney.
The Swans beat the Bulldogs on Sunday at Etihad Stadium by 35 points, but the reigning premiers had to fend off an impressive challenge.
Carlton are a game outside the eight and the Bulldogs are 15th.
The only real difference between Sydney and the ‘Dogs was the Swans’ three-goal burst at the end of the third term, plus another two goals at the start of the last to kill off the contest.
For the most part, the Bulldogs cracked in every bit as hard as their celebrated opposition.
It continued a surge of encouraging form from the Bulldogs over the last month.
They close out the season with Carlton, Adelaide, Brisbane (away) and Melbourne – all winnable if the Bulldogs repeat Sunday’s performance.
“We want to win some games in the next month,” said Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney.
“We don’t care who it’s against, but we want to put ourselves in a position to win some games and hopefully get the job done.”
And that was the only letdown for the Bulldogs on Sunday – not quite being able to put the Swans to the sword.
McCartney was asked separately post-match if he was satisfied with his team’s performance and also whether they took more out of this match than last week’s win.
The answer was the same: “yes and no”.
“The moral of the story is you’ve just got to go, go and be strong,” he added.
“The team that beat us today, that’s their trademark, that’s what they do.
“I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get closer to them and so are the players.
“Having said that, there was a lot to like, too.”
One of the most pleasing aspects of Sunday was young midfielder Mitch Wallis, who played well on Sydney’s clearance king Josh Kennedy.
“Mitch has really elevated his footy in the last month,” McCartney said.
“We’ve created a new role for him and to be honest I think all young midfielders should learn the game that way, learn how to deal with an opponent first and then work off him.”