Dogs midfield blow ahead of next AFL knockout final

By Shayne Hope 

The Western Bulldogs will seek to continue spreading the midfield load in their AFL elimination final after losing influential ball-winner Matthew Kennedy to concussion protocols.

Kennedy was integral in the engine room alongside Marcus Bontempelli and Ed Richards as the Bulldogs edged Collingwood in their historic wildcard final on Friday night.

The 14.12 (96) to 14.9 (93) victory, sealed when Magpies forward Tim Membrey missed a set shot after the siren, advanced the Bulldogs to another knockout clash, against either Geelong or Adelaide next week.

But Kennedy will be sidelined after failing tests following a head knock during the final quarter against the Magpies.

“It was really encouraging for us and now it’s important that we don’t get too carried away,” Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said of the triumph.

“They’re all in a state of disrepair, to a degree, because they left it all out there.

“We’ll freshen up but obviously lose Matty Kennedy for the next one. He’ll go into protocols, I think.

“But at the moment I feel like everyone else has got through in reasonable health.”

Bontempelli (32 disposals), Richards (25), Kennedy (27), Joel Freijah (27) and Ryley Sanders (25) were all important against Collingwood, while Aaron Naughton and Arthur Jones kicked four goals each.

Dogs skipper Bontempelli threatened to break the game open at times and Beveridge lauded his side’s spread of contributors through the midfield.

“It’s critical,” he said.

“Richo, Marcus, Kennedy and Freijah – the core group that are holding up their end – they need the boys to be stable around them and chip in.

“(Rhylee) West had a couple of big plays out of centre-bounce and we’ve got to spread that load and share the commitment at the coal face. It’s really important for us.”

Beveridge said Kennedy was the only casualty, with ruck star Tim English playing well and getting through unscathed on return from a knee injury.

“Tim’s missed a bit of footy and I thought he was really influential in the ruck,” Beveridge said.

On a high after the nail-biting win, the Bulldogs will seek to ride that momentum into their next cut-throat final.

“We’ve won a wildcard game so we can’t get too carried away,” Beveridge said.

“But it’s just such a great night and now we’ve got a bit of wind in our sails to think about the next one.”