SNAPSHOT OF THE GWS-WESTERN BULLDOGS AFL ELIMINATION FINAL:
* Result: Greater Western Sydney 16.17 (113) beat the Western Bulldogs 8.7 (55) in front of 19,218 at Giants Stadium.
* The lowdown: GWS went toe to toe with the Bulldogs’ vaunted midfield and won the battle. After having their colours lowered in round 22, the Giants roughed up the scrappy Dogs. Renowned tagger Matt de Boer did a number on superstar Marcus Bontempelli, holding the Brownlow medal fancy to 13 possessions. Giants trio Lachie Whitfield, Jacob Hopper and Tim Taranto combined for 87 disposals to well and truly win the war.
* Key moment: With the match on a knife-edge, GWS found a four-goal burst to close the third quarter and break the Bulldogs’ backs. It became ugly from there as the Giants piled on another four straight to run out convincing 58-point winners.
* Key stats: The result was a 119-point turnaround from round 22. The drastic change in fortune can be attributed to the Giants’ engine room. They had 39 more inside 50s, 42 additional contested possessions and 12 extra clearances.
* Injuries: The Giants will likely have to go on without Brett Deledio after the veteran suffered a recurrence of his troublesome left calf strain. Young gun Aaron Naughton also sent a major scare through the Bulldogs camp after going down with a knee injury. But coach Luke Beveridge allayed ACL fears, saying the extent of the injury doesn’t appear “extreme” at first inspection.
* What’s next: The Giants face a semi-final date with the winner of the Brisbane-Richmond qualifying final. There’ll be no next week for the Bulldogs, whose hot late-season form came to naught.