User:Doggo375/2021 Western Bulldogs Season

The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football team based in Melbourne, Victoria. Their 2021 season is their 96th season in the Australian Football League (AFL), their seventh season under premiership coach Luke Beveridge, and their second season with Marcus Bontempelli as captain. As of round 4, they have 4 wins and 0 losses, placing them at first place on the ladder.

Background
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football team based in Melbourne, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). They ended the 2020 home-and-away season seventh on the ladder. Their season ended after beat them in the first week of the finals.

In the off season, Marcus Bontempelli was named captain of the Western Bulldogs for the second year in a row. Mitch Wallis was named as the vice-captain, which formerly was held by Easton Wood. The leadership group was abolished, with players being asked to 'take on more responsibility to guide the team forward'.

Luke Beveridge was head coach for a seventh season.

The Western Bulldogs continued with Mexican foods supplier company Mission Foods as their major sponsor for 2021.

2020 off-season changes
At the end of their 2020 season, the Western Bulldogs delisted 2018 leading goalkicker Billy Gowers, and 2016 draftees Fergus Greene and Brad Lynch. Veterans Jackson Trengove and Matthew Suckling, as well as 2017 draftee Callum Porter were delisted after the trade period. The Western Bulldogs only traded one player, Lachie Young in the trade period, who went to in a three way trade that saw the Western Bulldogs receive  ruckman Stefan Martin, Brisbane and North Melbourne trade picks 63 and 70 respectively, and Lachie Young be sent to. They received out of favour midfielder Adam Treloar and picks 26, 33 and 42 in exchange for a first round and future second round pick. Finally, Mitch Hannan was also traded to the Bulldogs in exchange for a future third round pick.

In the 2020 AFL draft, the Bulldogs drafted Next-Generation-Academy graduate Jamarra Ugle-Hagan with the 1st pick of the 2020 AFL draft, as well as small forward Dominic Bedendo with pick 55.

Season summary
The fixture for the 2021 season was revealed in December 2020, with each team scheduled to play 22 matches and have a mid-season bye, as was normal prior to COVID-19. Only the first six rounds had times and dates set for the matches, with the remaining dates to be confirmed. The Bulldogs are scheduled to play, , , and  twice, and the other teams once each.

The Western Bulldogs' first match of the season was against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Bulldogs secured their first win of the season, a 16 point win, after leading the entire game. This saw former player Adam Treloar play against his old club for the first time. In round 2, the Bulldogs played at Marvel Stadium. The game was very even, with the lead switching 11 times throughout the game. Although the Eagles lead by by 2 goals at three quarter time, the Bulldogs kicked 5 goals to 2, with Bontempelli kicking the sealer, in order to secure the win, which was described as 'the best game of 2021 so far'.

Round 3 saw the team make history as they brutally demolished in the Good Friday marquee match by 128 points, their biggest winning margin in the club's history. Josh Bruce kicked 10 goals, the biggest amount kicked by an AFL player since Ben Brown in 2019. The win propelled them to the top spo of the ladder, with a percentage of 181.6. Round 4 saw the club continue their undefeated streak, after they beat 2020 prelimnary finalists by 19 points on a windy day at Mars Stadium in Ballarat. Ruckman turned forward Tim English, new recruit Adam Treloar and the ever-consistent Jack Macrae were named as the team's best on ground after they collected a combined 78 disposals and 4 goals.