Dogs post timely AFL win, but Murphy hurt

Captain Bob Murphy's late hamstring injury has meant a sour end to the Western Bulldogs' big AFL win over St Kilda.

Robert Murphy

Captain Bob Murphy's late hamstring injury meant an end to the Western Bulldogs' win over St Kilda. (AAP)

Bob Murphy looked every one of his 304 AFL matches after injuring his left hamstring in the Western Bulldogs' 40-point win over St Kilda.

Murphy was limping heavily in the rooms after suffering the injury with only a few minutes left in Saturday's 13.12 (90) to 7.8 (50) win at Etihad Stadium.

"I don't have enough to give you anything around how bad it is but, obviously, he has hurt it," said Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge.

"I'd imagine he'd probably miss some weeks, even though we have a bye."

After winning only one of their previous four matches, the Bulldogs recovered from a sluggish start and were too good for the Saints.

"It was a solid, four-quarter performance that we've been after," Beveridge said.

"To withstand their barrage - they had 95 tackles - was a great sign."

The Bulldogs' coach admitted the first term, when the Saints were controlling play, had alarm bells ringing.

But after St Kilda failed to capitalise, the 'Dogs took full control.

"Yeah, concerned is a fair enough word - you're always a little bit worried when you don't start the game as you anticipated," he said.

"There wasn't any panic. We just needed to get it on our terms, which ultimately happened."

Forward Jake Stringer was best afield with five goals and earned high praise from his coach.

"It was a complete game from Jake ... today was a great team game," Beveridge said.

"There was a lot of sacrifice in his game."

Stringer had missed the past two games after hurting his knee in the win over Richmond.

He also dominated after the Bulldogs dropped key forward Travis Cloke.

Youngster Bailey Dale enjoyed probably his best AFL match, while Lachie Hunter sat on star Saints midfielder Jack Steven.

After averaging more than 28 disposals so far this season, Steven only managed 17 as the Saints struggled against a new-look Bulldogs midfield.

St Kilda blew their chance to break into the top eight to be in mid-season trouble.

Last week, Sydney also easily beat them at Etihad Stadium by 50 points. After the bye, they have a massive Friday night assignment against the Crows in Adelaide.

"It shows we're not at the level of the better teams," coach Alan Richardson said of their past two losses.

"Right now, if you were just to look at us on the last two weeks, then we're nowhere near where we need to be."

Richardson is also unsure about when Nick Riewoldt will return after he had missed the Bulldogs game with bone bruising in a knee.

"That's a good question ... I'm hopeful - I'm not 100 per cent confident," Richardson said.

"I've skirted around this one, haven't I?"

Clay Smith was a late withdrawal for the Bulldogs with a calf muscle injury, meaning they made four changes for Saturday's match.

Jordan Roughead came in for his first game of the season after recovering from a serious hamstring injury.


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Source: AAP



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