Doggies show true stripes

By Ken Moore
BUNYIP gave its season’s hopes a big boost after it fought back from the brink of defeat to over-run Lang Lang by 11 points.
Most spectators had written off the Bulldogs when they trailed 27 points in the third quarter but the home side showed plenty of character to conjure a stunning revival.
Lang Lang held an 18-point advantage at half time due to good midfield drive from Cory Dowson, Sean Dowson and coach Clint Evans and with multiple goals by David Williams, Clint Fulton and Evans, the visitors established a handy lead.
The Tigers dominated the centre clearances in the first half but in the second half the Bulldogs won the better of the centre takeaways and with two goals by Jed Saik and further majors by Brent Hues, Nick Visser and Jake Buckingham pegged the margin back to only three points at three-quarter time.
Bunyip kept pressing in the last quarter and was rewarded for its perseverance when Saik steered through his third goal mid way through the term.
In the final 10 minutes the Bulldogs held on grimly and a goal after the siren by Michael Davies gave the home side a morale boosting 11-point victory.
Full forward Jed Saik put his body into many contests and took a number of strong marks and worked well in tandem with centre half forward Brent Hues and these two talls gave the Bulldogs a focal target, something that has been missing from their game for a large part of the season.
The midfield brigade of Andrew Hobday, Chris Savage, Troy Lehmann and Michael Whyte all rose to the occasion in the second half and defenders Andy and Steve Henwood chopped off many dangerous attacks.
An elated Bunyip coach Steve Henwood said it was the first time this season his side played a game with no passengers.
“Our back six were outstanding and it was a true all round team effort. We’ve been working hard to turn things around and today it all started to come together for the first time,” he said.
Lang Lang was well served by on-ballers Cory Dowson, Sean Dwyer and Clint Evans, wingman Jake Dwyer and defender Dylan Mitchell did well and continues to impress.
Kurt Batt led and marked strongly across centre-half forward and there was a lot to like about half forward Tommy Bennett, recruited from the Devon Meadows under-18s, who read play well and showed clean skills with both hand and foot in the heavy conditions.
“We were not desperate enough and didn’t show them enough respect,” said a downbeat Lang Lang coach Clint Evans after the game.