Pies win sparks Dogs’ rowdy scenes

THE Western Bulldogs were the secondary beneficiary of Collingwood’s come-from-behind win over Carlton in round twenty-three.

Having earlier defeated Hawthorn to bring up the club’s 12th win of 2022, Luke Beveridge’s men faced a nervous wait to determine if they’d play in September.

Needing Carlton to lose, hopes would have been fading for the Bulldogs early in the fourth term with the Blues holding a four-goal lead.

But a remarkable comeback sparked incredible scenes, and not just the MCG.

The Bulldogs players were in a hotel in Tasmania at the time, and the final siren at the ‘G brought about plenty of celebrations from the men from Whitten Oval.

Bulldogs’ defender Taylor Duryea spoke about the tense scenes as the Dogs waited to learn their fate.

“They [nerves] were shocking,” he said on SEN Breakfast.

“I’d only been in that position as a helpless fan. [It was similar to] last year when we were needing Brisbane to lose or win by a small margin for us to get top four and they pipped us by 0.1 of a percent or something.

“It’s the same again yesterday, but fortunately on the right side of the result.”

Given the Dogs’ win came around quarter time of Carlton/Collingwood, the scenes were somewhat subdued at full time in Launceston.

Duryea was also questioned on what Luke Beveridge had to say after the game.

“Our first chat after the game, obviously we didn’t know what the result was going to be between Collingwood and Carlton, so it was more [Beveridge saying], ‘we’ve done what we could’,” he replied.

“It was a bit of a difficult season, obviously we’d let ourselves down on some occasions with some poor performance.

“But realistically, while it’s an anxious wait to get a result to go our way, we’d rather be in this position than not.

“We fought out the last month of the year, and although scrappy, we got the wins we needed.”

The Dogs were seemingly out of finals contention just a month ago, but the Blues lost their last four games to open the door.

Beveridge’s men also won four of their last six and Duryea believes his side can now “release the shackles” in September.

“That’s all you need sometimes to kickstart something. He [Beveridge] has the absolute belief in us and we have it in ourselves, it’s just been a bit of insistency at times,” he continued.

“Now it’s almost a clean slate, release the shackles a bit, win or go home mentality which we were familiar with last year and now we get to do it again.”

The Bulldogs now play Fremantle in an Elimination Final on Saturday.

– BY SEB MOTTRAM/ SEN