SEN host Garry Lyon says the Western Bulldogs are back in the \u201chunt\u201d after their convincing forty-nine-point thumping of Essendon on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Leaving the Bombers goalless in the second half, the Bulldogs got back to their best to move through to next week\u2019s semi-final.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bulldogs got back to what has made the Bulldogs such a great side over the journey,\u201d Lyon said on SEN Breakfast<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the rain came, to me, they just seemed to me to want to get their hands dirty and it was back to that aggressive, hunting the footy, winning contested ball, pushing it forward… I love what they did.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were just a touch harder\u2026 they were a bit more seasoned and a bit harder.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was [Tom] Liberatore in the middle of the ground, it was [Jackson] Macrae, it was Alex Keath keeping Peter Wright.<\/p>\n \u201cSo all these things can get thrown at Essendon over the summer months, but it was just a good sign, it was a great sign for the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they\u2019re back in this hunt I reckon.\u201d<\/p>\n Kane Cornes was also impressed with the Dogs and their \u201cnext level of hardness\u201d, even in the moments leading up to controversial free kicks.<\/p>\n \u201cThey just went to that next level of hardness and when there were 50\/50 balls, they were just that little bit more ferocious,\u201d Cornes said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey put themselves in positions to win those free kicks when, you know, some of them clearly weren\u2019t there, and the umpiring was questionable in the first half.<\/p>\n \u201cBut they [Essendon] didn\u2019t kick a goal in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bulldogs will now look ahead to Saturday when they face the Lions in a do-or-die semi-final at the Gabba.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n