![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/lcimg-5191061f-5947-4137-817f-7227e5b4d9e9.jpeg\")
Joel Freijah celebrates kicking the goal that put the Bulldogs back in front. (Getty Images)<\/p>\nJoel Freijah celebrates kicking the goal that put the Bulldogs back in front. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n
By Shayne Hope<\/p>\n
Joel Freijah’s ice-cool set shot with four minutes left has given the Western Bulldogs a tense three-point win over Melbourne in a rollicking end to Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round.<\/p>\n
Ed Richards and Marcus Bontempelli starred in the midfield as the Bulldogs burst clear before halftime and resisted a fightback in their 14.9 (93) to 13.12 (90) victory at Docklands on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs threw away a 33-point second-quarter lead and trailed twice in the final quarter, before Freijah kicked the go-ahead goal in time-on.<\/p>\n
Demons young gun Harvey Langford had the chance to win the game but dropped a mark under huge pressure from Lachie Jacques close to goal.<\/p>\n
The Dees had another chance with a kick back into full-forward but Lachie Bramble took what proved a match-saving mark for the Dogs, who steadied in the dying seconds.<\/p>\n
Sunday’s result lifted the Bulldogs (6-5) into ninth spot, just one win behind the Demons (7-4), who sit sixth.<\/p>\n
But it came at a cost as defender Luke Cleary went off after a head knock in the second term and was ruled out with concussion.<\/p>\n
Richards (30 disposals, three goals) and Bontempelli (29 disposals, two goals) were outstanding in the midfield along with Ryley Sanders (31 touches).<\/p>\n
Rhylee West, Aaron Naughton and Arthur Jones (two each) also kicked multiple goals.<\/p>\n
Melbourne star Kysaiah Pickett had 25 disposals and six clearances in an entertaining duel with Richards, while Tom Sparrow (23 touches) and Jack Steele (21) fought hard.<\/p>\n
Harry Sharp and Langford kicked two goals each.<\/p>\n
Richards was a driving force early, working off Pickett as the Bulldogs kicked the opening three goals and led by 10 points at quarter-time.<\/p>\n
The margin quickly ballooned to 33 as Bontempelli and Jones kicked two goals each, and Richards another, in the second term.<\/p>\n
But the Demons responded with the next four goals, including three in as many minutes in time-on, to get back within eight points by halftime.<\/p>\n
It was more of the same in the third quarter, when the Bulldogs threatened to kick away but were quickly reeled back in.<\/p>\n
Pickett scorched the turf with four bounces in a run that eventually led to a Kade Chandler goal, dragging Melbourne back within one point, and it set up a grandstand finish.<\/p>\n
The Dees hit the front for the first time since the early stages when Sharp caught Jones holding the ball in the goal square and converted at the four-minute mark of the last quarter.<\/p>\n
It was the first of four lead changes in a rollicking final term, with Ed Langdon putting Melbourne in front in time-on before Freijah’s reply.<\/p>\n
Naughton’s long-range shot hit the post for the Bulldogs before the Dees’ late attempts to pinch victory.<\/p>\n
Melbourne lost experienced defender Jake Lever for the last 10 minutes after a head knock in a marking contest.<\/p>\n
AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joel Freijah celebrates kicking the goal that put the Bulldogs back in front. (Getty Images) By Shayne Hope…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[77,12693,13503,99,408,14058,4292,262,15148,3048],"class_list":["post-17486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-afl","tag-aussie-rules","tag-australian-rules","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-gws-giants","tag-live-blog","tag-melbourne-demons","tag-round-11","tag-western-bulldogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}