The Western Bulldogs are now 2-2 after going down to Geelong 91-95 on Saturday night at the Adelaide Oval.
The Cats were in command for much of the game and led at every break but the Bulldogs stormed home late, kicking the last three goals to give themselves a genuine chance of overcoming their opposition.
Kane Cornes believes that the Dogs would be kicking themselves after not converting enough on a dominant final term where they kicked just three goals to Geelong’s one.
Cornes thinks that Luke Beveridge’s side could have hit the scoreboard more with their domination, especially against a Cats side that was coming off a short break and looked to run out of legs late.
“They’d be absolutely kicking themselves the Western Bulldogs,” Cornes said on AFL.com.au’s The Round So Far.
“They dominated this last quarter of footy. 17 to seven clearances, 15 to 10 inside 50s.
“They were playing against a Geelong side with seven players over the age of 30 off a five-day break when they played a delayed game on Easter Monday at a wet MCG.
“If we’re going to take the Western Bulldogs seriously as a genuine finals threat (they had to win).”
While the Bulldogs said that they felt they had a top-four list last year, Cornes doesn’t think that they’re anywhere near a top-four side and instead may just find themselves on the cusp of finals as they were in both 2022 and 2023.
“Remember, they’ve said they’ve got a top four list,” Cornes said.
“They’ve reviewed it (their coaching department) for that reason, they changed all the assistant coaches (around Luke Beveridge).
“But they didn’t win this game when they had opportunities to do that. Then that’s a disappointing loss.
“Look, they’re not a top-four side from what we’ve seen if they can’t knock off Geelong for the reasons I mentioned.
“Are they on the cusp of finals? Potentially. But they’re still pretty reliant on their stars.”
One star that stood up big time in the defeat was Tom Liberatore who had one goal, 35 disposals and a whopping 19 clearances. Skipper Marcus Bontempelli also had 35 touches of his own to go with seven clearances, a goal and 10 tackles.
For the Cats, Jeremy Cameron kicked two majors to go with eight marks and 27 touches as he pushed up the ground.
The Dogs next face Essendon at Marvel Stadium on Friday night while the undefeated Cats host North Melbourne at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
