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Sellwood and Watson had just been locked in a tense and fiery match-up, tangling off the ball on several occasions.<\/p>\n
But Watson, with ball in-hand, threatened to single-handedly break the game open for Hawthorn with three goals across the first two quarters. At times, he seemed too quick and shrewd for his 13-game rival.<\/p>\n
Which prompted this intriguing Watson comment just after the half-time siren.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care if he (Sellwood) talks, as long as he walks the walk,\u201d Watson told Fox Footy\u2019s Ben Dixon when asked about his heated exchanges with the Bulldog.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d love to see it in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n
Man, did Watson see it in the second half.<\/p>\n
After a nine-disposal first half, Watson was restricted to just two disposals for the rest of the game. He didn\u2019t register a touch for the entire last quarter.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sellwood had eight touches in the second half and completely blanketed Watson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know he\u2019s a very opportunistic player and if you have a lapse in concentration, he\u2019ll probably kick one on you, \u201cSellwood told Fox Footy post-game. \u201cHe got a couple on me early, but just backed myself in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably felt I was playing a bit too one-on-one on him (early). I\u2019m more of an intercepting player and help my teammates out. I felt like in the second half I was able to do that while also nullifying him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hawks and Dogs in HUGE brawl | 00:56<\/p>\n
Asked about the niggle with Watson, Sellwood said: \u201cIt\u2019s good. I love that side of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably growing up \u2013 one of 10 (kids), four older brothers \u2013 so we were always just wrestling trying to pick up the scraps, I guess. I\u2019ve always just had that bit of mongrel about me, which I think stands up well.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpposition fans aren\u2019t going to like it, but it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge ultimately kept the faith in Sellwood to do the job on Watson \u2013 and he couldn\u2019t have been prouder of his defender\u2019s \u201cunbelievable job\u201d post-match.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only did he stop him and negate him, he helped in the air,\u201d Beveridge told reporters. \u201cHis third-up stuff was just ridiculous.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe rolled his ankle, he came off, we thought we were going to lose him. So he just showed enormous courage.\u201c<\/p>\n
Bulldogs teammate Rory Lobb described Sellwood as an \u201cantagonist\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you need to do that with Nick Watson, where he\u2019s obviously a very good player, and if you let him play the way that he wants to play, he\u2019s going to torch you,\u201d Lobb told Foxfooy.com.au post-match. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s so physical, he\u2019s so good in the air, he\u2019s really good on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great match-up.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘We gotta be better as supporters’ | 00:32<\/p>\n
Sellwood was taken by the Bulldogs with Pick 5 in last year\u2019s mid-season draft, plucked out of Peel Thunder in the WAFL as a 21-year-old.<\/p>\n
Lobb said he was proud of the development of his fellow WA native.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s that mature-age player that comes in – I feel like they\u2019re always hungry,\u201d Lobb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s done his time in the WAFL, he\u2019s come from Peel Thunder, he\u2019s waited his time, and then last year when he came to the club, he spent half the year with the VFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t lose a game in the VFL, and the way that he went about it, he probably could have played last year – but he waited his time, and I don\u2019t think he\u2019s missed a game this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli said Sellwood had already \u201cbecome one of our more reliable players in about 10 games\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat probably comes with those guys who join late and they just want to make the most of every single opportunity,\u201d Bontempelli told Fox Footy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe reminds me of a few players I\u2019ve played with in the past \u2013 Liam Picken, guys that just have this unbelievable amount of courage and keep going about their business and job.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the toughest tasks in football is playing on Nick Watson. He\u2019s so nippy, he challenges every mistake you make and he\u2019s an unbelievable finisher. He (Sellwood) will learn from that, but I thought Michael had some amazing moments getting in the way and spoiling, especially after what he did last week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Sellwood stunningly blanketed Nick Watson in the second half on Friday night. (Photo by James Wiltshire\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
There was one sour note post-game, with Sellwood copping a spray from a Hawks fan, who called Sellwood a \u201cweak something\u201d \u2013 according to Fox Footy\u2019s Jon Ralph.<\/p>\n
Sellwood was seen high-fiving fans around the MCG before turning back towards someone in the crowd who\u2019d sledged him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to be better as supporters. You win well and you lose well,\u201d Ralph told Fox Foty.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been called a weak so-and-so by, you\u2019d imagine, a Hawthorn supporter. He went back and he was very keen to point out that fan and say \u2018off you trot\u2019. He pointed him out to the security guards<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the Chris Scott situation of last night where he had to walk through the crowd and was abused as well \u2013 we understand the circumstances of that \u2013 I think we would all say he played a fantastic second half and didn\u2019t deserve to be abused.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe better, fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sellwood, however, and his Dogs ultimately had the last laugh. <\/p>\n
And Luke Beveridge\u2019s side continues to get it done in close games, now making it six wins from six in the tight ones. And they did it against a side that\u2019s had its measure recently. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey beat us up in Adelaide at Gather Round, and we were very disappointed with how we went in that game,\u201d Lobb told Foxfooty.com.au. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey got a bit chirpy in that game, and we knew they were going to get their tails up. We wanted to really take the fight to them. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a little bit of beef in that. And then when they were really flying, kicking four in a row in that second quarter and then really getting into us, we needed to make a stand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Sellwood, indeed, \u201cwalked the walk\u201d. Off the back of a breathtaking first half, Hawthorn star Nick Watson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[3443,638,347996,347999,64,63,689,55,639,15658,7491,3423,12923,347995,2105,7492,347998,3231,33693,681,348000,663,14016,348004,647,14360,1817,3530,677,348003,39232,131831,111191,347997,1124,85,348005,348006,348002,660,698,348001],"class_list":["post-717214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-adelaide","tag-afl","tag-all-in-brawl","tag-amazing-moments-getting","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ball-in-hand","tag-ben-dixon","tag-ben-waterworth","tag-chris-scott","tag-def-hawthorn-hawks","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-intercepting-player","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-james-wiltshire","tag-jon-ralph","tag-liam-picken","tag-luke-beveridge","tag-marcus-bontempelli","tag-mature-age-player","tag-melbourne","tag-michael-sellwood","tag-mid-season-draft","tag-nick-watson","tag-oceania","tag-opposition-fans","tag-peel-thunder","tag-rory-lobb","tag-security-guards","tag-single-opportunity","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-third-up-stuff","tag-turning-back","tag-unbelievable-finisher","tag-victoria","tag-western-bulldogs","tag-wrestling-trying"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717214","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=717214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}