Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli spoke to Seven post game.

Always nice to bank the four points but always nice to get a win against the reigning premier as well.

It is. It was a really important win for us. Down a few men like Collingwood are. Just had guys that needed to step up. We started the game really poorly. So sort of feel like you come away with two wins a bit. Finding a bit in the first quarter to get back in the game. They could have put themselves further in front. I think that’s what we’ve shown the last month or six weeks, just hang in there and see what happens. Young guys carried the can. Darcy was sensational. A lot of young guys stood up in the absence of older guys.

You went full beast mode in the final quarter as any good leader does, from Bevo’s perspective, at three-quarter-time, what was the narrative or what was the message he was driving?

Keep turning up. He even made - not a joke but a bit of a laugh at three-quarter time, “I guess last week you only had two blokes on the bench, this week we have one extra”. He tried to make light of the fact we might have had more run than last week and we finished that game not too bad. Sometimes you can drop in something like that that sort of releases the tension and just knowing you’re in the game is good. We found a way in the end.

How proud are you, as the captain of the resilience of this group. A number of guys coming in playing a role with the injuries you’ve got, different positions for a number of the blokes as well.

Six weeks ago, backs against the wall, really. The outside world was caving in and you had to find a way to, you know, inspire each other from within the four walls of the football club. It feels like the last four to six weeks been consistently turning up from quarter to quarter. It’s building really. Got to keep showing it. The hardest thing is backing up week after week and continue to basically show your identity and I feel like we’re getting there, which is great.

As you said, with some new faces in there, it is really promising. You touched on Sam Darcy. That goal was absolutely sensational. He is a special young player but the incident with Maynard early. Was he a little bit flat after that and what do you say to a young player?

He’s a really strong, competitive young kid, you know. I guess that was a bit of an old-school type of – really make him earn it. I think he stood up really well considering. When you’ve got the whole team coming after you, there’s a bit of fight in that. He was outstanding. He is a freakishly talented kid but he is a tough match-up so long. He was really good tonight, especially late with that sealer at the end.