The most experienced player on the West Coast list, veteran Shannon Hurn, was also the most effective.

The champion defender – along with others in the back half – stood up when under siege from an inside 50 count that saw the Bulldogs lead it 60 to 38.

Hurn was resolute, had 26 possessions and eight marks, gaining 653 metres with those disposals. A lot of those kicks from the defensive half were from kick-ins and he drove the ball long to the wing, getting the ball out of the danger zone.

Unfortunately, the Bulldogs proved masters at halving that contest down the line or nullifying it by causing a boundary throw-in. And it regularly resulted in them winning the stoppage and the ball re-entering the Bulldogs’ attacking 50 metre arc.

Hurn, Brad Sheppard, Josh Rotham, Tom Barrass and Jeremy McGovern led the defensive resistance until the dam wall broke in the last 15 minutes of the game.