Bulldogs thrash Kangaroos by 70 points

It was six shots apiece, but six-love and the match to the Western Bulldogs over
North Melbourne.
The Dogs underlined the importance of efficient AFL conversion in trouncing the
Kangaroos 20.7 (127) to 7.15 (57) at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Inside the first minute of the second term Kangaroos midfielder Andrew Swallow ran
in for what should have been an easy goal but shanked the kick left, which gave both
sides six scoring kicks each.
But for all North's early optimism - they went into attack twice as many times than
their opponent in the first quarter - their six behinds looked woefully inadequate
against the Bulldogs' six goals straight.
Given North's limited firepower there was little chance of a Kangaroos comeback, and
they did not score their first goal until just before halftime, courtesy of two
50-metre penalties amid Barry Hall's battle with the North backline.
Hall finished with three goals and Josh Hill four, while Bulldogs midfielders Adam
Cooney and Ryan Griffen starred and defender Brian Lake roamed free for 41
disposals.
Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade was pleased with the goal kicking conversion but was not
convinced his side had completely turned the corner after some patchy early-season
form.
"In the last two or three weeks we've played some good football," he said.
"We've still got some areas to work on, but our efficiency was pretty good going
inside 50 and obviously our accuracy, but there were some times that we maybe could
sharpen up on that.
"But overall it was a very pleasing performance."
While Eade could bask in the comfort of a scoreline that at one stage read 10.1 to
0.8, North coach Brad Scott bemoaned his side's inability to seize on its early
chances.
Nathan O'Keefe and Aaron Edwards both missed easy shots in the first quarter and
Todd Goldstein missed from under 10 metres on an angle, while Josh Smith also missed
a sitter later in the game.
Scott had no answers about his side's wastefulness.
"If I had the answer to that I'd be the greatest football coach of all time," he said.
"Goal kicking and accuracy, you can work on all the things you work on at training
and you can practise it, but under the pressure of a game sometimes you just miss
shots you should take. Clearly it costs you.
"We work on it really hard and I am a coach who really believes in practising skill
execution repeatedly and we do that. But clearly we need to do more."
The Bulldogs' win entrenched them in the top four with a 6-3 win-loss record, but
left the Kangaroos with a 4-5 deficit and another failure against a premiership
fancy, following previous thrashings at the hands of St Kilda and Collingwood.
Bulldogs star Jason Akermanis responded well given the criticism he copped for the
controversial newspaper column he wrote during the week, in which he urged gay
footballers to "stay in the closet".
Akermanis kicked the first goal of the game, but told Ten he had bigger concerns on
his mind entering the game.
"Unfortunately my wife's grandfather died and that was weighing on me way more than
that rubbish," he said.



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