Dogs overcome Lions in Canberra

A SLUSHY Manuka Oval put a temporary dampener on the Western Bulldogs, who overcame a sluggish start and some appalling inaccuracy in front of goals to eventually overpower the Brisbane Lions by eight points in Sunday's NAB Cup clash.

But it took an old-fashioned half-time bake from stand-in coach Leon Cameron to get the Dogs going after they kicked just one goal in the opening half and trailed by 19 points at the major break.

The result was a third quarter of nine scoring shots to zero, which set up the Bulldogs' 1.5.14 (53) to 1.5.6 (45) win.

They continued their dominance in the final quarter, but it was only a super-goal to Ryan Griffen five minutes out from full time that finally quelled the Lions' resistance, led largely by Justin Sherman.

The pacy onballer had an excellent afternoon, kicking two regular goals and one nine-point goal to be best afield for his team.

Conversely, the excitement came and went quickly for star recruit Brendan Fevola.

The former Blue's first touch in maroon, blue and gold brought about a goal, but it was his last for the afternoon. Still, he did enough to suggest that his combination with skipper Jonathan Brown - who was absent from the team on Sunday - will cause headaches for the rest of the competition.

Lions coach Michael Voss was philosophical about Fevola's contribution.

"It's hard to impact the game when the ball's not getting there," he said.

"In the first half, there were signs that were very pleasing."

Also pleasing for the Lions coach was the wholehearted effort of another new Lion, Amon Buchanan, and the sight of ruckmen Jamie Charman and Matthew Leuenberger sharing a field after their respective injury problems of last season.

"They've got different qualities and they're going to bring you something different", Voss said of the pair

"So our midfielders this year should be licking their lips ... [especially] with Mitch Clark hovering around too"

For the Bulldogs, Adam Cooney was classy and controlled in the wet conditions, and Andrejs Everitt (two goals) looked dangerous from limited opportunities in his new role up forward.

Canberra has copped a deluge in recent days and although the rain held off for the afternoon, its effect was clearly evident on a heavy and waterlogged oval.

As such, the football on display was low scoring and had more than a touch of old school about it.

The Lions dominated the areas necessary to control wet-weather footy early, smashing the Dogs in tackles and hard-ball gets and keeping last year's preliminary finalists goalless in the first term.

"Our first half, we just weren't awake," Bulldogs assistant coach Cameron said.

"Brisbane's young midfielders were fantastic and they gave our older midfielders a bit of a touch-up."

The lead grew by five points in the second quarter, but the end of the term saw signs of a Bulldogs revival.

The inside-50s evened up and, even though the Dogs could not put it on the scoreboard, one felt that a surge would eventually come.

It just took Cameron's tongue-lashing at half time to coax it out.

The stand-in coach had kinder words though for his younger players, including Brodie Moles, Jordan Roughead and Brennan Stack.

"As the game wore on, I thought they started to pick up the pace and they really started to contribute towards the second half."

Cameron said half games for Robert Murphy and the injury-prome Tom Williams were always planned, and that Shaun Higgins' departure from the ground due to a minor leg injury was merely precautionary.

The Western Bulldogs now take on Hawthorn in round two of the NAB Cup, while the Lions will play out the pre-season in the NAB Challenge series.

Western Bulldogs 0.0.4   0.1.8   0.4.14   1.5.14 (53)
Brisbane Lions 1.1.3   1.3.6   1.3.6   1.5.6 (45)

GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Nine-point goals: Griffen Goals: Everitt 2, Cooney, Roughead, Jones
Brisbane Lions: Nine-point goals: Sherman Goals: Sherman 2, Fevola, O'Brien, Brennan

BEST
Western Bulldogs: Cooney, Giansiracusa, Gilbee
Brisbane Lions: Buchanan, Sherman, Rischitelli

INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Nil
Brisbane Lions: Nil

Reports: Nil


The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.