A very good article...

Don't forget the Dogs
The Age
Rohan Connolly | May 5, 2008



SO COMPLETE was Hawthorn's performance against Collingwood on Saturday that mouths are already watering at the prospect of another grand final between the Hawks and Geelong, almost 20 years after their classic 1989 play-off.

It's a tantalising thought. But seven rounds into the season, it's also very premature. And yesterday's game at the SCG offered plenty of evidence as to why.

Being the perennial underdog can have its motivational advantages, but if Rodney Eade and his Western Bulldogs were more ego-driven, they would have every right to feel more than a little miffed by all this talk of Cats and Hawks.

Make no mistake, the Doggies are a fair-dinkum contender — the third still unbeaten team of the season, just half-a-game behind the other two and at least one-and-a-half games clear of the rest.

For three years now, we've heard how the Bulldogs had to address their shortcomings to be taken seriously. They have. And it's time we did.

The significance of yesterday's win over the Swans can't be overstated. Paul Roos' Sydney teams had not lost to the Doggies, five straight wins stretching back to 2002 — most comfortable, a couple comprehensive.

Sydney, the supposed master of the contest, was beaten in them yesterday. It was the fifth time in seven games this season the Bulldogs had won more contested ball than their opponent.

Last year, that happened only six times in 22 games. The season before, when the Dogs made the finals, it was only five times in 24 games. Eade's side averaged 21 fewer contested possessions than the opposition then. Now it averages 11 more. Scott West, who led the charts for the all-important stat by a huge margin the past two seasons, wasn't even there yesterday, but still the Dogs prevailed.

The new hardness is being driven by some different faces this season. There's ruckman Ben Hudson, who led his former club Adelaide's tally in 2007.

There's Mitch Hahn, a hugely underestimated part of the Bulldog machine, and inspirational yesterday with his tackling and aggression at the ball.

There's the perennials in Daniel Cross and Matthew Boyd.

And then there's Adam Cooney.

If the gifted midfielder isn't already a genuine superstar of the AFL, he's that close it's not funny. Over the previous fortnight, he'd kicked two of the best goals of the season, both swift, powerful bursts straight from the centre square. Yesterday, he booted five, had 25 disposals and pretty much tore the Swans apart.

Importantly, though, the solidly built South Australian is giving the Bulldogs two players in one, proving that it doesn't have to be either grunt or glitter. It's Cooney who leads that individual contested possession tally for the Dogs. There's more than a touch of Michael Voss about him.

The Bulldogs' forward line has a couple of key marking targets these days in Will Minson and Scott Welsh besides the old stager Brad Johnson. But, as Cooney showed yesterday, there's plenty of goals coming from the midfield as well.

The Bulldogs are efficient, as a remarkably accurate 18.4 against the Swans showed, and the spread of goalkickers plentiful. There are no fewer than 10 players averaging at least one goal a game to date.

No wonder Eade's side, for all the pyrotechnics of power forwards such as Hawthorn's "Buddy" Franklin and Jarryd Roughead, Carlton's Brendan Fevola and Richmond's Matthew Richardson, remains the highest-scoring team in the competition.

It scores quickly, too, as Richmond will testify, having given up a 19-point lead with barely three minutes to play a couple of weekends ago. It's pretty intoxicating stuff.

While noting the improvement in the Bulldogs' strength and defensive qualities after yesterday's win, Eade, as usual, was at pains to play down the Bulldogs' longer-term prospects.

"I think we're still below (Geelong and Hawthorn) and we haven't played every team, so you can't really see where you're at," he said.

Sorry, "Rocket". Some of us can, and your blokes are the real deal.