WESTERN BULLDOGS 0.0.1  0.1.1  0.4.4  0.9.8 (62)

Nine pointers: Melbourne: Nil. Western Bulldogs: Nil. Goals: Melbourne: J Garlett 2 J Kennedy-Harris 2 C Dawes D Cross J Hogan J Watts N Jones S Frost. Western Bulldogs: A Cordy 2 B Goodes J Grant J Stringer L Jong M Bontempelli M Boyd W Minson.

Umpires: Chris Donlon, Scott Jeffery, Brendan Hosking, Curtis Deboy.

Venue: Eureka Stadium, Ballarat.

The Western Bulldogs intend to play games at Ballarat's Eureka Stadium for premiership points from as early as 2017, and for much of Saturday afternoon there was a sense that if their pre-season game against Melbourne was still going they might actually have got their hands on the ball by then.

The Dogs kicked with what seemed a three or four-goal wind in the first quarter, and paused at quarter-time with hands on knees and lungs heaving having collectively touched the Sherrin just 42 times compared to their opponent's 128.

Lin Jong led their possession count with five; for the Demons, Christian Salem, Heritier Lumumba, Lynden Dunn and Colin Garland all boasted double-figure counts.

Seven draftees featured in an alarmingly inexperienced Bulldogs side missing up to a dozen first-choice players, but that won't stop long-suffering Demons fans from revelling in a display of cool, crisp ball movement that for years they have seen only in runaway opponents. 

Their team kicked the first six goals of the game and by midway through the third quarter the best that could be said for the Dogs was that a performance bordering on embarrassing - if such a thing is possible in a practice match - wasn't televised.

The margin blew out to 52 points but to the young Dogs' great credit they rallied and slammed on seven unanswered goals of their own as veteran Matthew Boyd and Marcus Bontempelli started to have an impact around the stoppages, where Salem, Jay Viney, Nathan Jones, Dom Tyson and several of their mates had hitherto given the Dogs a miserable window to an immediate future without Tony Liberatore.

The final margin of just seven points was unforseeable for much of the game, yet a function as much of the Bulldogs' lift in intensity and impact around the ball as it was the Demons taking their foot off the throat.

It's perhaps best to focus on the good rather than the bad, and until midway through the third quarter, Mitch Honeychurch aside, that meant keeping your eye on the red and the blue.

The Demons' recruits were especially heartwarming, Sam Frost hinting that prising him away from GWS could be something of a coup, while Ben Newton, who could only break into the Port Adelaide midfield four times, was always busy and Lumumba seemed to always have the ball across half-back.

Frost fitted in nicely in a defence in which Lynden Dunn and local product Tom McDonald were ably supported by Neville Jetta, who was in everything at their flanks and Garland was his reliable self.

Former Blue Jeff Garlett was the early beneficiary of Melbourne's ball hogging, kicking the first two after receiving from Jay Kennedy-Harris and then swooping on the spillage from Jesse Hogan's committed contest.

The only goalscoring chances created by the Bulldogs came via ground rather than aerial, with Jason Johannisen unlucky to be pinged for running too far just as he was about to cap a four-bounce run, and Jong missing narrowly after a similar dash from defence.

Kennedy-Harris cleverly set Daniel Cross up for another then got one of his own before a Michael Talia mistake led to a little icing of every Melbourne fan's cake with the sight of Hogan running onto the ball to mark and goal.

Chris Dawes, Jones and the impressive Frost all hit the scoreboard around Ayce Cordy's lone first-half goal for the nominal home team.

The Bulldogs found something to send their travelling fans home with as Jarrad Grant, the hitherto quiet Bontempelli and Brett Goodes finished the third quarter with goals and Jong, Will Minson, Boyd, Cordy and Jake Stringer chipped in into the breeze in the last.