‘The Wizard’ talked the talk, but it was the fighting Bulldogs who walked the walk

In the end, Hawthorn fire starter Nick Watson ignited a blaze the Hawks could not control.

“The Wizard” terrorised the Western Bulldogs in the opening half of their clash at the MCG and in the process tormented his opponent Michael Sellwood.

In typical explosive fashion, Watson kicked three inspiring goals across the first two quarters, making the most of his midfield cameos, and lifting Hawthorn to a 27-point lead by the long break.

He ran the hapless Sellwood ragged and even appeared to have the better of the Bulldog defender in a fiery quarter-time melee that spilled over the boundary line and into the fence.

It was the sort of all-in that would have had the AFL bean counters licking their lips as they tallied up the fines.

But then Watson said something about Sellwood as he walked off the ground at the half-time break that he might, in hindsight, like to take back.

“He’s giving me a bit,” Watson told Kayo Sports at the time. “I don’t care if he talks as long as he walks the walk, so I’d love to see it in the second half.”

What he saw in the second half was a Hawthorn horror show. Luke Beveridge maintained his faith in Sellwood, and he gained the upper hand, fighting back to keep Watson to just two possessions in the final two quarters.

After the game, Sellwood told Kayo Sports that he was one of 10 children growing up, so scrapping was in his nature.

“I just love that side of things,” he admitted.

“I was one of 10 – with four older brothers – so we were always wrestling, and I was trying just to pick up the scraps, I guess.

“I’ve always had that mongrel about me that stands up well. Opposition fans won’t like it, but it is what it is.”

As Watson faded from the game and failed to kick another goal, the determined Bulldogs lifted themselves from the canvas to steal the match.

They piled on 8.2 to the Hawks’ 1.11 after half-time to seal a six point victory – 12.5 (77) to 9.17 (71).

As the game became an arm wrestle until the end, every moment counted.

None more than defender Nick Coffield charging back towards the goal square with three minutes left on the clock to knock the ball from Hawthorn forward Mitch Lewis’ hands as he appeared to claim a mark.

The umpire must have been a millisecond away from blowing his whistle. It was that close. Had the mark been paid, it would have been a certain goal.

It was so close that Sam Mitchell would not be drawn on whether it should’ve been a mark, saying umpiring was a tough job.

But Coffield’s last-gasp desperation mirrored the approach of his side. He said after the game that the Bulldogs had wanted to make a stand.

They were tired of being “walked over” by Hawthorn, he said, including a 40-point thumping during Gather Round.

“They’ve humiliated us a few times now,” Coffield told The Age.

“So Bevo gave a little bit of a stir-up just to take the fight to them a little bit more, and I don’t think we did that in the first half, but I feel like we responded well after half-time.”

With Watson subdued after the long break, defensive forward Will Lewis took up hostilities with Hawthorn skipper James Sicily.

They wrestled on the centre wing, pushed and shoved inside the Bulldogs’ forward 50, and traded heated words in the goal square.

“Obviously, that created a bit of tension in the game, but we thought Will really did his job and played his part on the night,” Beveridge said after the game.

“I’m sure that the numbers, the stat sheet will say that, you know, Hawthorn probably should have won the game.

“But I just thought our back line were just supreme, outstanding. They weathered a pretty big storm all night, and to keep them to that total in the second half, as far as the scoreline goes, was really significant.”

Beveridge said the Bulldogs came to the MCG knowing that in recent times Hawthorn had their measure.

“They’re a team that, if you give them space, their pressure is quite outstanding,” he said.

“So to forge a way through that, to weather that storm and then to come out the other side with a victory is quite significant for us.

“I think the players definitely came in with the right mindset, [and] definitely made a decision to make a stand.”

Mitchell was not left lamenting his Hawks’ efforts, but he was certainly deflated by their inaccuracy.

“I wouldn’t say that we weren’t up for the fight,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think anyone watched the Hawthorn side tonight and went, ‘Gee, they were off tonight’.

“We didn’t kick our goals, we didn’t make the most of our chances, but it wasn’t through a lack of effort.”

Hawthorn, playing without injured spearhead Jack Gunston, had 77 more disposals and 17 more entries inside their forward 50. They could not buy a goal – even a late shot from Mabior Chol skewed off his boot and went out on the full.

The Bulldogs won the game from forward-50 stoppages. Tellingly, they managed 5.1 (31) in that area, compared to Hawthorn’s 1.4 (10).

“Some of our best footy of the year was played tonight, and some of our worst, so they really took their chances, and we weren’t able to take ours,” Mitchell said.

“Execution is important, and I get more mail about goal kicking than anything else, but we probably do more work on goal kicking than anything else, so [we’re] still looking for answers.”

Mitchell was not surprised that the Bulldogs tried to blanket Sicily out of the game, calling Lewis an “antagonist”.

“James has played some great footy. I suspect he’d be in a lot of the All-Australian sides at the halfway mark of the season, so we suspected that he’d probably get a fair bit of attention from [Will] Lewis,” he said.

“But I thought James played really well with a fair bit of attention.”

The Bulldogs lost Lachlan McNeil to concussion early in the game, forcing Beveridge to shuffle the decks and throw Rory Lobb forward, while Hawthorn big man Mitch Lewis appeared to badly injure his ankle but was able to play out the game.

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