THE WESTERN Bulldogs had to survive an early scare from the Greater Western Sydney GIANTS in their 42-point victory in the inaugural Prime Minister’s Cup at Manuka Oval in Canberra.
In their first ever AFL match in Canberra, the GIANTS raced away to an early lead thanks to goals from AFL debutants, Josh Brice and Taylor Adams in the first eight minutes of the opening quarter.
The GIANTS have been dogged by poor first quarters so far this year but the young side jumped the Bulldogs early and kept them goaless during the opening term.
Israel Folau was prominent early as the GIANTS midfield led by Stephen Coniglio and Toby Greene got on top of their more experienced opponents.
It was the first opening term the GIANTS have won all season and the fourth quarter they have won so far this year.
The Bulldogs looked slightly stunned by the hard running GIANTS but fought back in the second quarter, slamming on eight goals to three in the second quarter to open up a 33 point lead at half time.
The third quarter was a hard fought contest but the young GIANTS weren’t helped by some poor turnovers that resulted in goals to the Bulldogs.
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After missing last week’s game against Adelaide, young GIANTS forward Jeremy Cameron again showed he is a star of the future kicking five goals and looking dangerous all day.
Co-captains Phil Davis and Luke Power also worked hard as did Tom Bugg and Toby Greene, while Jacob Townsend kept the Bulldogs’ Robert Murphy quiet.
On a beautiful Canberra autumn day, a crowd of more than 9,000 people including Prime Minister Julia Gillard turned out to watch the GIANTS first game in the nation’s capital
GIANTS youngster Jeremy Cameron who was nominated for the NAB Rising Star Award in Round two and booted five goals against the Bulldogs today said that the side was improving week by week and showing promising signs.
"We're a young group so we will learn every time that we run out there.
"There was some great stuff that we will take out of today, we came out really well in the first quarter and we were really happy with that because that is one of the areas of our game that we were looking to improve.
"I just want to play consistent football week to week and play more role within the team which I was really happy to be able to do today."
Greater Western Sydney 2.4 5.5 8.6 9.8 (62)
Western Bulldogs 0.5 8.9 12.12 15.14 (104)
GOALS
Greater Western Sydney: Cameron 5, Hampton 2, Bruce, T Adams
Western Bulldogs: Higgins 2, Cooney 2, Dahlhaus 2, Cordy, Djerrkura, Boyd, Griffen, Jones, Sherman, Wallis, Picken, Grant
BEST
Western Bulldogs: Griffen, Cross, Picken, Boyd, Higgins, Cooney
Greater Western Sydney: Cameron, Bugg, Power, Greene, Davis, Townsend
SUBSTITUTES
Western Bulldogs: Tom Liberatore replaced Jordan Roughead at halftime.
Greater Western Sydney: Devon Smith replaced Stephen Coniglio in the third quarter.
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Fleer, Leppard, Grun
Official crowd: 9,128 at Manuka Oval
