New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nAnd the injury-hit Dogs bounced back after last week\u2019s shock loss to Carlton as Luke Beveridge\u2019s side improved to 6-5. <\/p>\n
It meanwhile snapped a two-game winning streak for Steven King\u2019s 7-4 Demons, who remain sixth on the ladder.<\/p>\n
The 3-2-1 (what we learned) …<\/p>\n
3. \u2018STRUGGLING WITH CONSISTENCY\u2019: STAR\u2019S ADMISSION AFTER EPIC BOUNCE BACK<\/p>\n
Ed Richards bounced back to his best in the Dogs ace\u2019s best game of the season to lead his side\u2019s midfield authority.<\/p>\n
Having been down on his enormous 2025 heights, Richards on Sunday night looked every bit the superstar from last year.<\/p>\n
He racked up 30 disposals, 10 clearances, three goals and 773 metres gained to carve up the Dees with maximum damage.<\/p>\n
The 26-year old admitted he\u2019d been \u201cstruggling with consistency\u201d so far this season in an area that can separate the best from the rest. <\/p>\n
Though the All-Australian might be his own biggest critic, already with an eye on backing up Sunday\u2019s performance next week. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the thing with this game, it\u2019s been hard to be consistent,\u201d Richards told Fox Footy post-match.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been struggling with that consistency.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was good to have a good performance tonight, but it means nothing if I can\u2019t go again next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ed Richards bounced back to his best (Photo by Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images)Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Richards was crucial to the Dogs responding to Luke Beveridge\u2019s call for greater effort in contest and contested possessions in areas they got \u201ctouched up\u201d in last week\u2019s shock loss to Carlton.<\/p>\n
Despite the absences of injured stars Tim English and Tom Liberatore, the Dogs beat Narrm in contested possessions (+10) and clearances (+9) in a step forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuper pleasing. I thought we were pretty hard in there tonight, which was something we wanted to go after,\u201d Richards added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Blues obviously touched us up in that space.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what the stats looked like, but it felt really good in there.<\/p>\n
2. DOG GOES FROM ZERO TO HERO AFTER EPIC CLUTCH TACKLE<\/p>\n
Frin zero to hero, Joel Freijah sure paid the Dogs back!<\/p>\n
After letting Ed Langdon get out the back for a goal that put Melbourne in front minutes earlier, Freijah responded with the match winner.<\/p>\n
Langdon slipped through as the winger on the fat side of the ground for an easy goal in the goalsquare with just over five minutes to play in a tense, see-sawing fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cFreijah\u2019s just blazing inside, gets a little bit ball watchey. Langdon identifies that he\u2019s head\u2019s turned and he needs a bit of luck for that ball to go over his head, but it does,\u201d Saints great Nick Dal Santo said.<\/p>\n
Four-time premiership Hawk Jordan Lewis added: \u201cUsually close games like this, it comes down to the finer detail. Joel Freijah just got caught.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the Dogs youngster made amends. <\/p>\n
An epic chase-down tackle from Rhylee West on Jack Steele stopped the Demons in their tracks and rebounded the ball the other way. <\/p>\n
Aaron Naughton marked deep in the pocket before chipping inbound to Freijah, who nailed the set shot and game-winning blow. <\/p>\n
\u201cOnce again it comes down to moments,\u201d Dal Santo said. <\/p>\n
\u201cFreijah allows a goal against, then kicks the winner at the other end.\u201d<\/p>\n
1. CONCUSSION CONCERNS FOR BOTH SIDES<\/p>\n
There\u2019s concussion concerns for both clubs coming out of the contest after Demon Jake Lever and Bulldog Luke Cleary got struck down.<\/p>\n
Lever came from the ground midway through the final term after an epic spoiling effort where he came off second best.<\/p>\n
He took no further part in the game given he needed to undertake a standard 15-minute concussion test.<\/p>\n
According to AFL journalist Tom Morris, Lever failed that concussion test, ruling him out of next week\u2019s Alice Springs clash with GWS.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a big blow for the Demons after Lever has been a key pillar in Steven King\u2019s defence in a superb season.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Dogs can\u2019t take a trick on the injury front, with Cleary their latest casualty.<\/p>\n
Playing in his first game this season, Cleary copped an accidental shoulder to the head from from Max Heath in the second quarter. <\/p>\n
The defender was officially ruled out for the rest of the day with concussion, which means he\u2019ll miss next week\u2019s meeting with Collingwood.<\/p>\n
Re-live Dogs vs. Dees in our live blog below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Western Bulldogs have survived a see-sawing thriller against Narrm in a thrilling three-point win at Marvel Stadium.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,337601,2105,337599,3231,33693,6462,142568,647,7804,673,677,337126,25042,19083,85,670,337600,660,698],"class_list":["post-691896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-fledgling-season","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-intriguing-clash","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-james-wiltshire","tag-live-updates","tag-match-details","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-demons","tag-new-south-wales","tag-oceania","tag-pies-win","tag-point-win","tag-scott-pendlebury","tag-sports","tag-sydney","tag-upset-mission","tag-victoria","tag-western-bulldogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691896","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=691896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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