The Western Bulldogs have again found a way to win under pressure, while North Melbourne are 0-4 to start the AFL season after a gripping inaugural Good Friday clash.
The reigning premiers trailed by 29 points in the third quarter at Etihad Stadium but lifted in a tense final term to snatch a three-point victory.
Down by 10 points late in the game, skipper Jack Ziebell’s crumbing goal put the Kangaroos within striking distance.
They continued to press their case but lost momentum when Scott Thompson was pinged for a contentious deliberate out-of-bounds call.
Minutes later, Lindsay Thomas had a chance to kick the winning goal in his 200th game but his shot from 50m out went wide and the Bulldogs held on for a 12.17 (89) to 12.14 (86) victory.
Much like their narrow wins over Collingwood and Sydney, the Dogs’ stars stood up when the heat was on.
Tom Liberatore, Jake Stringer and Matthew Suckling all kicked important goals in the final term, but it was Luke Dahlhaus who turned the game in the Bulldogs’ favour in front of a crowd of 42,814.
The tough midfielder was typically prolific at the stoppages, finishing with 32 disposals, and booted clutch goals either side of three-quarter time to put the Dogs ahead.
Lin Jong and Bob Murphy were also key contributors, providing important run-and-carry out of the backline.
“From a dig deep, persistence point of view … in that regard, we were outstanding, I thought,” Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said.
“Things weren’t on our terms most of the night and – in that third quarter, when you think that maybe it was going south – once again our boys dug deep and found a way.”
The Kangaroos were again unable to capitalise on a competitive effort to be 0-4 after four rounds.
While they fought hard in the middle, led by Ziebell and Shaun Higgins, coach Brad Scott admitted his side had lacked polish.
“I thought the hunger and fight was fantastic,” he said.
“They really had a lot of belief that we could get over the line and that’s really promising. There were some rookie errors made by a bit of a rookie team so we’ve got to spend some time fixing that.”
The Easter milestone match was shaping to be a low-scoring affair before North went on a third-quarter run, sparked by Ben Brown booting two of his four goals.
But the Roos struggled to keep their momentum going and were outclassed in the final term.
The Bulldogs will sweat on injuries to spearhead Travis Cloke and ruckman Tom Boyd.
Cloke was hospitalised after copping a heavy front-on bump from Jack Ziebell late in the game. There are fears he might have broken ribs.
Boyd copped a nasty head knock during a collision with Scott Thompson and did not return after showing delayed concussion symptoms.
