Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n Glaringly, Luke Beveridge\u2019s side conceded 51 points from clearance, representing their fourth-worst return over the past five years. <\/p>\n The Dogs failed to punish under the roof, registering seven fewer scoring shots than the visitors despite generating three more forward-50 entries. <\/p>\n It\u2019s left experts questioning their overall profile, as well as a lack of depth around the ground when their best aren\u2019t at their best. <\/p>\n \u201cWe spoke about \u2018brand\u2019 (pre-game), because they don\u2019t rank high in a lot of areas, and they\u2019re showing exactly that,\u201d Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall said post-game on Fox Footy. <\/p>\n \u201cIf they don\u2019t have all their really good players playing particularly well – and that wasn\u2019t the case tonight – then they\u2019re going to be found out against the good teams, and that\u2019s what we saw tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna added: \u201cThey\u2019re around the mark, but what I think we saw tonight was that they\u2019re probably not right at the pointy end – they\u2019re not in that conversation to be a top-four team. <\/p>\n \u201cMaybe top-six at best, but when they are so reliant on their midfield, it\u2019s not just for clearance and field position, it\u2019s also to impact the scoreboard.\u201d<\/p>\n Two-time North Melbourne premiership player David King, meanwhile, gave a blunt assessment of where the Dogs sit in the pecking order as we edge closer to the business end of the year. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not a contender,\u201d he said on Fox Footy. \u201cThey\u2019re just not. <\/p>\n \u201cYou look behind the ball, there are holes. The good teams are going to really capitalise on some of those guys that are just off. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not massive gaps, and they\u2019re still competent AFL players, but you put a Thilthorpe down there – all of a sudden, they make Buku (Khamis) and (James) O\u2019Donnell look really small. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen the ball was coming at speed, they couldn\u2019t handle it, really \u2026 so you have to make changes to your perfect mix. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd unless it happens with Bontempelli, Richards, maybe Freijah, they\u2019re in trouble. If they don\u2019t get going in the middle, there\u2019s not a lot to fall back on there, either.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite entering the round in sixth spot on the ladder, a few areas of the Dogs\u2019 game were sticking out for the wrong reasons<\/a>. <\/p>\n They rank outside the top 10 in the competition for most pertinent offensive metrics, including points from turnover (14th), time in their forward half (13th), and chain-to-score rate (13th), while their post-clearance ranking of 14th suggests there are structural improvements to be made.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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