{"id":57517,"date":"2025-08-10T11:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T11:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/57517\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T11:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T11:23:10","slug":"dogs-stay-alive-in-afl-finals-race-after-pulsating-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/57517\/","title":{"rendered":"Dogs stay alive in AFL finals race after pulsating win"},"content":{"rendered":"

That followed Aaron Naughton kicking the first two goals of the second half to increase the Bulldogs\u2019 lead to a match-high 21 points, only for the contest to transform into a tense arm wrestle.<\/p>\n

Sam Darcy, who otherwise had a mostly quiet afternoon, was part of two integral moments that ensured the Dogs prevailed and remained just one win outside the top eight with two rounds to go.<\/p>\n

\"Huge<\/p>\n

Huge grab: Sam Darcy in full flight in the last quarter.Credit: Channel Seven<\/p>\n

Darcy firstly played on from a mark just outside the Bulldogs\u2019 attacking 50 before delivering a magnificent pass to Rhylee West, whose superb checkside finish gave their side the lead for good.<\/p>\n

But that was not confirmed until the final minute, after Demon Harry Petty\u2019s clever tap to teammate Daniel Turner in the goal square saw Melbourne slash the deficit to six points with 52 seconds left.<\/p>\n

The Demons\u2019 upset bid effectively ended with a courageous Darcy mark, where he ran back with the flight before hurdling a pack of players to emerge with the Sherrin, in a moment skin to Nick Riewoldt\u2019s famous effort 21 years ago at the SCG.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was huge,\u201d Beveridge said of Darcy\u2019s final-quarter interventions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe changed the ruck situation because of the day that he was having. Things weren\u2019t going right. He ended up going into the ruck and sharing some time with Tim … what do they say? It might not be your day, but it might be your moment. Well, he had a couple of critical moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was just a sensational mark that he took there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only Adelaide and Geelong boast a superior percentage to the Dogs, but they will likely need to win their last two matches, against West Coast then the Dockers, and rely on one of their rivals above them slipping in the next fortnight.<\/p>\n

Ed Richards was outstanding in one of the best games of his career.<\/p>\n

The star midfielder amassed 31 disposals, two goals \u2013 both of them in the final term, to regain the lead for the Bulldogs \u2013 17 contested possessions, 15 score involvements and 14 clearances in a performance that should earn him maximum Brownlow Medal votes.<\/p>\n

Beveridge also hailed fellow on-ballers Marcus Bontempelli (33 disposals) and Tom Liberatore (24), while Naughton finished with at least five goals for the fifth time in his past six games.<\/p>\n

Melbourne were gallant in defeat, and edged in front with back-to-back goals to Harvey Langford and substitute Blake Howes almost 20 minutes into the final term.<\/p>\n

Demons captain Max Gawn was a towering presence and thorn in the Bulldogs\u2019 side all day. He seems certain to end this season as an eight-time All-Australian.<\/p>\n

Veteran defender Tom McDonald was another strong performer in a mostly inexperienced Melbourne backline, while Clayton Oliver won 10 of his 27 touches in the last quarter, and Jai Culley enhanced his hopes of gaining a new contract with another eye-catching display.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the group, first and foremost. It\u2019s been a tough week for everyone, but for the guys to play the way they did, and to be so close, I think it says a lot about this group and the path they\u2019re on,\u201d Chaplin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought our leaders were fantastic all week, led by \u2018Gawny\u2019 and \u2018Vines\u2019 [Jack Viney], Ed [Langdon] in his 200th, \u2018Trac\u2019 [Christian Petracca] \u2013 they\u2019ve had to deal with a fair bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to go down against a team that is in really good form and pushing for finals, by a goal \u2013 and right in the last minute \u2013 I couldn\u2019t be prouder of the group.<\/p>\n

Chaplin, who started the day coaching his son\u2019s under-12s Camberwell Sharks team, repeated he did not want to replace Goodwin full-time at the Demons despite harbouring ambitions to be a senior AFL coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be a senior coach [one day]. I really enjoyed it. It\u2019s not too different. I mean, you\u2019re sitting up there, and you\u2019re always in conversations with the assistants in what we can change, but now you\u2019re the face of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery conversation you have with somebody; it could be their most important conversation of the day, and that\u2019s really important to me. I\u2019ve just got to make sure that I keep giving to the rest of the group, and we keep driving the club forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had some amazing support this week, and just really want to finish this next two weeks off, and it gives me an opportunity to lead a program and sit in the driver\u2019s [seat].\u201d<\/p>\n

Demon Caleb Windsor suffered a left hamstring injury, while Bulldog Laitham Vandermeer sustained a concussion after falling backwards in an aerial contest with Kysaiah Pickett.<\/p>\n

\"Heavy<\/p>\n

Heavy hit: Laitham Vandermeer and Melbourne\u2019s Kysaiah Pickett collide.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Injured Thilthorpe the hero as Crows avoid huge upset
AAP<\/p>\n

Riley Thilthorpe suffered a frightening injury scare before becoming the match winner as Adelaide avoided the upset of the season in a thrilling nine-point win over West Coast at Optus Stadium.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s first versus last battle was meant to be a stroll in the park for the Crows, but West Coast kicked six unanswered goals from late in the first quarter until early in the third to open up a shock 17-point lead in front of 32,845 fans.<\/p>\n

The Eagles still led by 10 points when Tim Kelly goaled early in the last quarter, but Adelaide kicked the next four to secure the 13.9 (87) to 12.6 (78) victory.<\/p>\n

It lifted the Crows (16-5) a game clear on top of the ladder ahead of their last two matches against Collingwood and North Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks had his hands on his head on seeing Thilthorpe writhing in pain on the turf after being collected high by a flying Liam Duggan bump in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\"Riley<\/p>\n

Riley Thilthorpe in pain on the turf.Credit: AFL Photos<\/p>\n

Thilthorpe was left nursing a neck and shoulder injury and went to the bench for an extended medical check.<\/p>\n

Duggan\u2019s high bump is likely to end in a suspension for the Eagles co-captain, who was playing his 200th game.<\/p>\n

Thilthorpe was able to return later in the term and kicked a goal during a run of four straight majors as Adelaide momentarily settled the ship.<\/p>\n

West Coast pushed ahead again courtesy of two goals to Liam Ryan late in the third quarter and a major to Kelly early in the fourth.<\/p>\n

With eight minutes to go, Adelaide were holding on to a one-point lead.<\/p>\n

Enter Thilthorpe.<\/p>\n

Giants thump North Melbourne in Canberra mismatch
Vince Rugari<\/p>\n

The Giants had 10 days to stew on their shocking and unexpected 88-point defeat to the Western Bulldogs last week – one that not only damaged their premiership credentials, but plunged their finals prospects into mathematical doubt.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, they achieved the tiniest degree of atonement.<\/p>\n

Tiny because it was, after all, only against North Melbourne. And they did only what they had to do: win.<\/p>\n

Do that again \u2013 on Saturday, against the Gold Coast Suns \u2013 and their spot in the top eight will be secure, assuming they also take care of business in the final round against St Kilda.<\/p>\n

From a North Melbourne perspective, this performance was even more reason to be sceptical about the Alastair Clarkson project at Arden Street, which doesn\u2019t seem to be trending in the right direction, no matter how hard you squint.<\/p>\n

\"Tristan<\/p>\n

Tristan Xerri of the Kangaroos dives after Tom Green of the Giants in Canberra.Credit: AFL Photos<\/p>\n

The final margin of 54 points flatters them. The outcome was never, not once, in any doubt. You might call it an honourable loss for the Kangaroos \u2013 20.13 (133) to 12.7 (79) \u2013 but they\u2019re sick of those. This was their seventh consecutive defeat, their worst sequence of the year, and with an average deficit of 52 points.<\/p>\n

From the outset, this game felt like a mismatch. It felt like both teams clocked that pretty early and conducted themselves accordingly. As a contest, it was basically over late in the first quarter, when Cadman kicked the last of four unanswered goals (and their fifth overall, from just 11 inside 50 entries) by Greater Western Sydney, who were playing, for the last time this season, at their home away from home in Canberra.<\/p>\n

The margin at quarter-time was just 15 points, but there was already the palpable sense that the afternoon was heading in a singular direction. So it proved.<\/p>\n

The Giants added another four goals in a row to start the second term and stretch the margin to 48 points. Unlike in their last win, the derby against the Swans a fortnight ago, there were no party tricks; it was as if they were conserving energy for tougher battles ahead, which won\u2019t have pleased their perfectionist coach Adam Kingsley. Their best remains arguably the best in the competition, but there\u2019s a question mark on their consistency, and it won\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n

Their star-studded forward line, in the absence of Coleman medallist Jesse Hogan, did the damage. Callum Brown kicked an equal career-best five goals, rising star Cadman had four (but should have also had five, after being inexplicably run down in the goal square), and returning skipper Toby Greene and dynamite recruit Jake Stringer booted three each.<\/p>\n

In the middle, hometown lad Tom Green (10 clearances, 14 score involvements, one goal) and Finn Callaghan (31 disposals, nine clearances, one goal) ran the show.<\/p>\n

The visitors had their moments, sure. On debut, Cooper Trembath was their top-scorer with three goals, delighting the strong contingent of family members who had flown up to Manuka Oval to watch him, and there were occasional flashes of real class from Luke Davies-Uniacke. A few times, the \u2019Roos enjoyed a little run-on \u2013 but those periods were almost tacitly approved by the opposition, who seemed to go through the motions and let it happen.<\/p>\n

In so doing, the Giants relinquished an obvious chance to boost their percentage after it took a battering against the Bulldogs \u2013 though they still ended up scoring their biggest ever total against North, and still won every quarter.<\/p>\n

For all involved, this was painfully routine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That followed Aaron Naughton kicking the first two goals of the second half to increase the Bulldogs\u2019 lead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-57517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}