The Western Bulldogs have suffered their heaviest defeat of the 2023 AFLW season to date, falling to the Sydney Swans by 57 points at Whitten Oval on Saturday.
The Dogs, completely decimated by injuries with only 20 listed players to choose from for the match, proved no match for the Swans.
An eight-goal first half from the visitors set up the victory, with the margin blowing out to 42 points at the main break.
The Bulldogs put in an improved effort in the second half after making some positional adjustments, but the damage was done.
Sydney’s total of 96 points was the most the Dogs have conceded in a game of AFLW, and the losing margin was the second heaviest in the club’s history.
A crowd of 2982 people watched the action at Whitten Oval, the highest home crowd of the Dogs’ season to date.
Sydney co-captain Chloe Molloy was a major factor in the outcome of the game, kicking three goals, taking 11 marks and collecting 28 disposals in a match-winning performance.
For the Bulldogs, skipper Ellie Blackburn notched 30 possessions for the second time in her career, to go game highs for clearances (eight) and tackles (eight).
Kirsty Lamb finished with a season-high tally of 24 disposals and she had six clearances, while Issy Pritchard had 18 touches and five clearances, while also spending time in the ruck.
One of the highlights for the Dogs on a disappointing day was a first AFLW goal for Issy Grant, who took a strong mark deep in attack early in the third term and converted, after being switched to attack for the second half.
Jorja Borg also impressed on her debut, finishing with a game-high 29 hitouts.
“It was a crazy feeling,” she said.
“I didn’t think it would happen like this but I’m so grateful and it was an awesome day.
“There was a lot more pressure out there than you’d think, it’s definitely a big step up and it’s something to adjust to.”
The Bulldogs have two more chances to secure their first win of the 2023 campaign, starting with a trip to play West Coast over in the west next Saturday.
“We’ve got two weeks to go, everything that’s happened in the first eight weeks has happened, can’t change it, can’t affect it, can’t do anything about it so what we’ve got is two chances to get better,” coach Chris Grant said following the loss.
“I can see it in [the players] eyes, the way that they’re training, they still want to improve, they still want to get better so that’s what we’ll do.
“We may not get the benefits of it this year, but it’ll slingshot us into a long pre-season.
“Morale amongst this group is really, really good.”
While there were no more injuries to report from this match, the Dogs already have five players out for the rest of the season and another four under the test or indefinite bracket. Dom Carruthers is the only player with an expected arrival time listed by the club, of one to two weeks as she recovers from a concussion.
