New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nBulldogs superstar skipper Marcus Bontempelli starred with three goals from 23 disposals including a brilliant chase-down tackle on John Noble and clutch finish in the fourth quarter, while Matt Kennedy also chipped in three majors. <\/p>\n
The win importantly saw the 11-7 Dogs climb back into seventh spot on the ladder and three wins inside a wildcard spot. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile the 7-11 Suns suffered an eighth-straight loss as their freefall continued.<\/p>\n
Mitchell reacts to Mitch Lewis’ epic bag | 05:37<\/p>\n
The 3-2-1 (what we learned)… <\/p>\n
3. DOGS\u2019 Q3 DOMINANCE FLIPS SCRIPT<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t call it the premiership quarter for nothing!<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs put Gold Coast to the sword with a five goal to nothing third quarter in ultimately the difference between the two sides.<\/p>\n
It was in large due to the Bulldogs getting on top at clearances in an area they were otherwise dominated.<\/p>\n
That made the game played in the Dogs\u2019 forward half as they choked Gold Coast and forced turnovers. <\/p>\n
In fact, Luke Beveridge\u2019s side kicked 4.2 (26) scores from turnover in the third term \u2014 its best return this year \u2014 all from the front half.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey dominated the clearance game, they were able to absolutely flip it on its head,\u201d Saints great Nick Dal Santo said at three-quarter time.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it wasn\u2019t their score source \u2014 it was their front-half game and turnover game. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou think about conserving energy and controlling the game and taking away some of the threats of the Suns with their ball movement. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way to achieve all those things is by keeping the ball in your front half and putting pressure on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hinkley leads race for Tassie Devils job | 01:40<\/p>\n
2. \u2018CAUSED HEADACHES\u2019: BONT STARS WITH EPIC HIGHLIGHTS<\/p>\n
Marcus Bontempelli can singlehandedly turn a game when he\u2019s on. <\/p>\n
The Dogs superstar skipper was in full flight with three goals from 23 disposals as the highest-rated plater on the ground to help lead his side to victory.<\/p>\n
Two of those were big-time goals.<\/p>\n
Bontempelli caught John Noble holding the ball with a brilliant run-down tackle and clutch finish in the fourth term that put the Suns to bed. <\/p>\n
The 31-year old\u2019s first goal was just as good with a classy finish from outside 50m in a \u201cfeature\u201d Saints legend Nick Dal Santo believes he\u2019s added to his game this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s caused headaches,\u201d Dal Santo said of Bontempelli.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a feature of his game, he\u2019s added that to his game this year \u2014 the bombs outside 50.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been fantastic. The more the ball is in his heads, the more special things happen from a Bulldogs perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
1. SUN\u2019S SEASON-HIGHS LEAD \u2018HIGHLY USUAL\u2019 CLEARANCE DOMINATION<\/p>\n
Even if his side didn\u2019t get the four points, Touk Miller can hold his head high. <\/p>\n
In what\u2019s been an otherwise quiet season from Miller with a deepened Suns midfield, the dual All-Australian got back to some of his best form. <\/p>\n
He racked up season highs in disposals (39) and clearances (nine) in a pure on-ball role and an area the Suns dominated, outside of that third quarter.<\/p>\n
Gold Coast controlled clearances +8 (39-31), which has been \u201chighly unusual\u201d this year, as noted by Brisbane champion Alastair Lynch, in an area Damien Hardwick\u2019s side has bizarrely dropped off.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we know, he is one of the elite workers in the competition,\u201d Lynch added.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis ability to get the ball on the inside but also with his transition on the outside.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what you recognise from Miller over the last few years. We haven\u2019t seen a lot of it this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe, probably like his midfield partners, hasn\u2019t been in great touch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Re-live Suns vs Bulldogs in our live blog below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Western Bulldogs have piled more pain on Damien Hardwick\u2019s Suns and consolidated a wildcard spot with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-810420","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\/810420","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=810420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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