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In a match that for the second night straight played host to horrid conditions at the Adelaide Oval, Dudley found flight in the blink of an eye with two critical goals that undid the Magpies\u2019 first-half dominance.<\/p>\n
Speaking to foxfooty.com.au in the changerooms post-game, the 22-year-old was well aware that while it was a tough night for forwards at both ends, his opportunity to flip the game on its head was always going to come \u2014 he just had to take it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have the first half I wanted, but that\u2019s just footy. In games you have moments, and I just capitalised on mine. I took my moment, and took my chance,\u201d Dudley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe small forwards don\u2019t get much opportunity, but when they come, I tried taking it with both hands. I was lucky enough to get on the end of a few moments that can change the game, and I think I did.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve built a good connection with \u2018Switta\u2019 (Sam Switkowski), \u2018Bolts\u2019 (Shai Bolton) and a few others. We all have good balance, and the thing about us is we can all play multiple roles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all happy to let each other shine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only key forward Jye Amiss finished the night alongside Dudley with multiple goals to his name, with the Dockers struggling further up the field to record 16 less inside 50s and a whopping 29 less tackles.<\/p>\n
But, in a side that is very quickly proving themselves as more mature by the week, their last-gasp win over Adelaide a week prior at the same venue couldn\u2019t have been a much better simulation for Friday night\u2019s antics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know Collingwood are a very fast and attacking team. They were going to have momentum at times; that\u2019s just footy,\u201d Dudley continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew if we stayed calm and connected with each other, we knew that we were going to pull the momentum back. We\u2019ve been in these situations the last two weeks now, and also experienced it last year. We can handle it, and we did it pretty well tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey lost last week, and we knew that was going to bring a dog fight. We\u2019re pretty good at contested footy, and we had to match it or even be better.<\/p>\n
Dudley handpasses the ball as Ned Long gives chase during the 2026 AFL Gather Round match between Collingwood Magpies and the Fremantle Dockers at Adelaide Oval on April 10, 2026 (Photo by James Wiltshire via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just had to go back to getting the roles right and setting the field. Once we brought the heat in the second half, we showed our best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having kicked 10 goals from his first five games of 2026, the Prince Alfred College product has well and truly earned himself consistent selection in Justin Longmuir\u2019s side that\u2019s already got a number of gun small forwards options at their disposal.<\/p>\n
And while the 168cm livewire played 16 matches at the top level last year, in six of them he was either subbed out or began the match as the 23rd man. It leaves him grateful to have been able to showcase his talents across a full game in front of family and friends in consecutive weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a privilege (playing in South Australia), and I don\u2019t take it for granted. Obviously I\u2019m on the other side of the country, so to have two weeks here back-to-back here is pretty special.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see all my family here \u2014 about 30-odd \u2014 it was great to see them happy. With the win, I think they all had a heart attack! <\/p>\n
\u201cSome live in Adelaide, some drove six hours from Port Lincoln for the match.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year, Isaiah Dudley\u2019s family only got a glimpse of their young star on the Gather Round stage,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,104725,10133,291892,291890,31402,291893,10124,83254,2105,1289,49767,33693,10400,80391,7198,152098,677,291891,111166,179645,1124,85,291889,291894,87670],"class_list":{"0":"post-598447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-australian-football-league","13":"tag-australianfootballleague","14":"tag-clutch-goal","15":"tag-collingwood-magpies","16":"tag-consistent-selection","17":"tag-dog-fight","18":"tag-family-travel","19":"tag-first-half-dominance","20":"tag-fremantle-dockers","21":"tag-game-number","22":"tag-getty-images-inc","23":"tag-heart-attack","24":"tag-isaiah-dudley","25":"tag-james-wiltshire","26":"tag-justin-longmuir","27":"tag-matthew-johnson","28":"tag-michael-willson","29":"tag-multiple-goals","30":"tag-oceania","31":"tag-one-goal-win","32":"tag-play-multiple-roles","33":"tag-port-lincoln","34":"tag-south-australia","35":"tag-sports","36":"tag-substitute-player","37":"tag-valuable-sparks","38":"tag-young-star"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598447","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=598447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}