WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has lauded his players' ability to grind out a result, ensuring captain Marcus Bontempelli celebrated his 200th game in style with a 29-point win over Hawthorn.
The Bulldogs were beaten "reasonably convincingly" around the contest in the first half, trailing by three points at half-time before kicking seven goals to two after the main break to secure the win.
BULLDOGS v HAWKS Full match coverage and stats
More than 40,000 fans were on hand to pay tribute to Bontempelli in his milestone match and Beveridge was bemused that his side gave Hawthorn the upper hand, forcing them to claw their way back into the contest.
"You've got to credit Hawthorn for its attack on everything … they won at the coalface. It's unusual for us to be beaten at stoppage and definitely at centre bounces early in the piece and reasonably convincingly," Beveridge said
"After half-time we made a slight adjustment to what we were doing strategically at the stoppage and the mids became a bit more proactive and they fought their way through it extremely well and it was really pleasing to see those increments of progress over the course of the day.
"To our players credit, even guys who were down a bit at the half, they came into the game in the second half and helped us get over the line."
There's been few better at the Bulldogs than Bontempelli, who became just the 23rd player in the club's history to play 200 games and the first player from his draft class (2013) to reach the milestone.
He's won four Charles Sutton Medals, earned All-Australian selection four times, claimed a Leigh Matthews Trophy and AFL Coaches' Association Player of the Year Award and has been captain of his side since 2020.
REPORT Dogs celebrate Bont's milestone with gritty win over Hawks
"Our supporters idolise him in a sense and are really grateful for what he's done for our football club over our journey," Beveridge said.
"It was tremendous to see our supporters here and our players knew they'd be here, so for Hawthorn to have the electricity in the game early is a credit to them.
"It really should've been an occasion where we got out of the blocks and this is part of our challenge to continue to scale-up in games like this and really find the upper hand.
"When you need a little bit of an adrenaline kick through the team you're relying on individuals to inspire a little bit and more often than not Marcus will be the one who pulls a lever.
"We saw that again today and it's not a high-quantity game for many players but the quality of his output (made a difference)."
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell was left to lament a costly second-half fade-out after the Hawks started the match in scintillating fashion and led by three points at half-time.
The Hawks won the contested possession count by 18 and were on top in the clearances, but couldn't keep up with the Bulldogs after the main break.
"A lot of those aspects went really well but at the end of the day they're a good side and we just couldn't stay with them for long enough," Mitchell said.
Mitchell was pleased with ruckman Ned Reeves and defender Blake Hardwick, who kept dangerous Bulldogs forward Cody Weightman to just three disposals, while he also heaped praise on returning spearhead Mitch Lewis who impressed in his first game of the season on return from a knee injury.
Lewis was wayward in front of goal, kicking 1.4, but finished with 16 disposals and 11 marks.
"He's a beautiful set shot, I'm not concerned about his goalkicking ... he's worked hard on it over a long period of time," Mitchell said.
"It was his first game back since round 20 [last year] and I think when you watched him bounce around in the first part of the game you thought 'ok, this guy's definitely ready to play'."
It was the Hawks' fourth straight loss, leaving them anchored to the bottom of the ladder with one win, while the Bulldogs (4-3) are ahead on the win-loss ledger for the first time this season.
