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THE creation of a “handball club” has emerged as a key weapon in the Western Bulldogs’ push to break the game’s longest premiership drought.

The entire Dogs’ list spends 30 minutes up to three times per week honing their handball skills, and coaching genius Alastair Clarkson declared they were ahead of the game.

The Dogs use small spaces at Whitten Oval to replicate congestion and practice absorbing tackles, freeing the arms and breaking into space.

The training has helped the Dogs dominate games from inside stoppages and the tactics will play a critical role in their quest to reach the club’s first Grand Final since 1961.

Dogs coach Luke Beveridge launched handball club on day one of pre-season after they were eliminated by Adelaide last September.


Caleb Daniel gets a handball away to set-up teammate Luke Dahlhaus for a goal against the Eagles.
Champion Data ranks the Dogs the No. 1 handballing team out of a stoppage and the ballistic ball movement has been the backbone of their sudden-death wins against last year’s grand finalists West Coast and Hawthorn.

Star onballer Luke Dahlhaus said the Dogs boast some of the most damaging hands in the AFL.

“Since day one of the pre-season just gone we’ve started this thing called handball club,” Dahlhaus said in the wake of the stunning win against Hawthorn.

“We basically work on it for half an hour every second day. We practice all sorts of handballs, whether it’s underground or overhead and they put pressure on us to hit targets and count how many targets you hit.

“It seems to be working for us because our handball efficiency has been up this year.

“We’re very lucky to have the coaches we’ve got and it’s working out for us.”

Clarkson highlighted the tactics after Friday night’s loss, noting how the Dogs managed to wear tackles but still feed the footy to teammates in space.

He queried how the Hawks won just three holding the ball free kicks from 105 tackles.

“That’s where the game’s changed a little bit, they (the AFL) want the game to keep moving,” Clarkson said.

“We need to get better in that aspect. We’ll have to change some things that we do, in terms of the way that we play, because that is a significant change in terms of the way the game’s being umpired.”

Clarkson praised the swarm-and-spread style as “good play” and said rivals would now be forced to mirror it next season.

All-Australian Matthew Boyd said midyear the Dogs placed “a lot of emphasis” on handball club, a comment which suddenly resonates.

“It’s a crucial part of our game, just trying to get the ball from the inner ring of the congestion to the outer ring and get a clear kick away,” Boyd said.

“We have specific times we do that stuff in a group and the amount of work the individuals put into that training is huge.

I’m glad it’s paid off, it’s our little thing.”

AFL legend Wayne Carey marvelled at the Bulldogs combination of purchase and accuracy when handballing above the shoulders.

“I’ve not seen a team do it as well as the Bulldogs, ever,” he said.