The Western Bulldogs have been put on watch after multiple throws went unpunished against the Dockers on Friday night.
Dubbing the throws “a different handball club”, Fox Footy’s Leigh Montagna shared vision of seven separate incidents in the Dogs’ 49-point win in Perth.
“I could have showed 10 of them!” Montagna said.
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“Look at these from the Western Bulldogs.”
Caleb Daniel and Adam Treloar were involved in multiple replays shown on First Crack.
“This one’s the little scooper,” Montagna said of Caleb Daniel’s attempted dish out to Marcus Bontempelli.
“There’s a heap of them going around.
“Then there’s the little one hander (from Treloar to Daniel).
“All the little throws they got away with – none of these were paid.”
Montagna said the throws were “something to keep an eye on” moving forward.
“The no-looker – that’s a beauty. The little flick from Treloar (to Jack Macrae),” Montagna said.
“The over the topper from (Tom) Liberatore (to Treloar).
“Then you’ve got the open-hander with a little throw forward (from Liberatore to Rory Lobb).
“Then the little dummy half rugby one, just a little scoop out to Libba.
“This is the best of the lot of them – Alex Keath had to get in on the act.
“They did that all night the Western Bulldogs!”
The footage came as both Montagna and David King praised the growing handball game of the Bulldogs after a slow start to the season – joining the likes of handball-happy teams including Collingwood and Essendon.
Lobb met with NASTY hostility by Freo | 01:34
“What is their weapon? It’s their midfield,” Montagna said.
“Whenever the Western Bulldogs’ four/five midfielders are getting a stack of the footy and their ruckman, that’s when they are at their best.
“They’ve gone back to their greatest strength.
“The ability to get the ball from the inside to the outside has always been one of the greatest strengths of the Western Bulldogs and they are now doing that.
“Numbers around the footy, chain out and run and carry, and it’s really working for them.
“They look so much more dangerous when they play this way.
Western Bulldogs Press Conference | 04:22
“It’s becoming the real trend handballing chains through the midfield – Essendon are doing it, St Kilda are doing it, Collingwood have been great at it and now the Western Bulldogs are playing this way and they’re becoming a real threat of the competition again.”
King said when the Bulldogs opted to move the ball by hand, they became a massive threat.
“That’s an awesome watch when they play like that – they can beat anyone. It’s hard to stop,” he said.
