The ugly nature of the loss was made even more damning for the Giants after they elected to leave Marcus Bontempelli to roam.<\/p>\n
Bontempelli has been one of the premier midfielders in the competition for several years now, but the Giants elected to back their own stars and go head-to-head.<\/p>\n
It became evident early that the tactic wasn\u2019t working as the Bulldogs maestro carved up the turf with ease.<\/p>\n
At halftime the Dogs entered the break with a 38-point lead, thanks in large part to the work of the 30-year-old who had 18 disposals, three goals, six inside 50s and five score involvements.<\/p>\n
Several AFL greats couldn\u2019t quite believe the Giants hadn\u2019t sent somebody to run with Bontempelli.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an intriguing thing \u2026 he\u2019s waltzed around all by himself once again,\u201d Nick Dal Santo said at halftime on Fox Footy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is two steps ahead of everyone else in the competition \u2026 he\u2019s always had poise, but what he has is great decisions, so when he makes that decision to sneak forward, he goes so hard, and it puts his opponent in really vulnerable positions. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe spoke about a few things the Giants have to tidy up, maybe pay a bit of respect for no.4.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saturday afternoon was Bontempelli\u2019s second-highest rated first half of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m staggered (nobody\u2019s gone with him),\u201d Ben Dixon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been tracking him, and no one has gone to him. Rowston went to him early, but it wasn\u2019t a run-with (role).\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs\u2019 skipper finished the contest by leading all ball-winners with 33 disposals to go with three goals, 11 score involvements and 665 metres gained.<\/p>\n
Teammate Aaron Naughton said the display is just common place for the Bulldogs superstar.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked up at the stats before half-time and he had like 17 and three, I was like \u2018wow\u2019,\u201d Naughton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he does it every week – not only that, but also the defensive side of his game is top notch as well, which probably goes underrated because his offence is so good – but I couldn\u2019t ask for a better skipper.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dogs will look to continue their undefeated start to the season next Friday night when they travel into Adelaide for a clash against the Crows.<\/p>\n