THE WESTERN Bulldogs brushed a late resurgence from Richmond aside to run out 57-point victors on Saturday evening under the Marvel Stadium roof.

The 15.15 (105) to 7.6 (48) result was ultimately an important, percentage-boosting win for the Bulldogs heading into the final month of the home and away season.

BULLDOGS v TIGERS Full match coverage and stats 

It wasn't pretty, but the Dogs did what they needed to do.

Ed Richards (32 disposals, two goals, six clearances) was a standout for the Bulldogs, strong through the middle and then sliding forward to hit the scoreboard, and Joel Freijah's return to form couldn't have come at a better time, finishing with 23 disposals and five clearances for the evening.

Richmond captain Toby Nankervis (17 disposals, 34 hitouts) was focused on bringing the physicality to his clash with Tim English (13, 27, one goal). The latter has been struggling for form and fitness in recent weeks, while the former has spent the bulk of this year on the sidelines unable to help his team, so they were keen to get the upper hand in the matchup.

Unfortunately for Nankervis, not even his best efforts could help his midfielders match it with the Bulldogs. By half-time they were losing the clearance count 11-21, but ultimately finished just two to the negative. Notably, centre stoppage was where the Tigers were especially vulnerable, as that metric landed at 10-15 by the final siren.

All that being said, there was a grit and determination about the Tigers – what they lacked in connection going forward, they made up with pressure and work rate – and as a result they owned territory for large patches.

However, they were unable to turn that territory control into scores, so the Bulldogs torched them on turnover. With so much space in the front half, and speed in the legs of players like Arty Jones, Sam Davidson, and Cody Weightman meant they were able to get dangerous goal side.

But it wasn't just goals for speedsters out the back, Aaron Naughton (one goal, five marks) led up at the ball carrier beautifully all night, giving opponent Kye Annand nightmares.

Luke Trainor stood up in moments, standing up in tackles and flying for intercept marks, offering a physical presence in the absence of Noah Balta, and Tom Lynch enjoyed his first multiple goal haul since round 11.

As it has done in recent weeks, Richmond came out for the final term full of vigour and ready to compete at a new level, and it did narrow the margin with consecutive goals for the first time all evening, but it just wasn't enough to run down the early good work of the Bulldogs.

Once the vigour was extinguished, they devolved into a slow, cautious, possession game.

Lachie Bramble's neat work off half back was impressive, resulting in 27 disposals and eight intercepts for the night, notwithstanding being on the receiving end of a heavy Mykelti Lefau tackle, and Marcus Bontempelli (29 disposals, two goals, 556 metres gained) kept doing his thing.

Strife for Arty?
On the bell of three-quarter time, as Richmond defender Nick Vlastuin was reaching for a ground ball, Bulldog Arty Jones came in to lay a bump and awkwardly caught the Tiger high. A free kick was paid by the umpire – ultimately irrelevant given the siren – but it may draw the ire of the Match Review Officer.

Unselfish Naughton
Aaron Naughton has often been a whipping boy of the Bulldogs' forward line, with the key target expected to kick big goal tallies each week, but what he does so importantly for his side is create cohesion in the forward line. Rarely is Naughton caught crowding a teammate's space in the line, and often is a sacrificial foil for someone else to earn the spoils. His performance on Saturday evening, was the example of exactly that unselfish team play.

Comedy of errors
In the second term, Cody Weightman dived toward a flying ball tight up against the boundary line inside 50, and despite the impressive effort, he awkwardly kicked it over the line on the full. It took an umpire conference and vision intervention to finally hand Tiger Luke Trainor a free kick for out on the full. Unfortunately for Trainor, he followed it up with a very narrow kick long down the line, so narrow that it never even entered the field of play. Ultimately no ground was gained, with a ball up taken back to the area of the kick. Not the best two minutes of footy.

WESTERN BULLDOGS             2.5    6.10    10.13   15.15 (105)
RICHMOND                                        2.3     2.3       5.5        7.6 (48)

GOALS 
Western Bulldogs: West 2, Weightman 2, Richards 2, Bontempelli 2, Naughton, Davidson, Croft, Dolan, Jones, Hynes, English
Richmond: Lynch 2, Lefau 2, Lalor, Mansell, Taranto

BEST 
Western Bulldogs: Richards, Bramble, Naughton, Sanders, Bontempelli
Richmond: Prestia, Taranto, Short, Nankervis, Lefau

INJURIES 
Western Bulldogs: Nil
Richmond: Nil

Crowd: 25,154 at Marvel Stadium