Dogs twin towers bully Essendon for second time in 2025

In a fizzer of a Friday night fixture, the Bulldogs' twin towers were unstoppable in the 22.11 (143) to 7.8 (50) destruction of the Bombers.

Back-in-form Naughton booted a career-high seven goals, while Darcy finished with a season-best six majors in an imposing performance.

After belting Essendon by 91 points earlier in the season, the Bulldogs made it a combined 184-point margin over the Bombers for 2025.

The Bulldogs became the first team to have multiple victories over the same opponent by more than 90 points since Fremantle against Melbourne in 2013.

Superstar captain Marcus Bontempelli, who was earlier in the week named the second-best Bulldog of all-time, was typically dominant with 35 possessions and two goals.

"We didn't go over the top with improving out of sight with a couple of those things," Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said.

"There's still a bit more to work on, defensively, but ultimately the work ethic was high all night, so it's a good result."

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of their last premiership, Essendon were treated with disdain, similar to how the all-conquering Bombers bullied opponents during the 2000 season.

The only concern for the Bulldogs was star midfielder Tom Liberatore appearing to have his foot stomped on during the third quarter.

Liberatore was subbed out soon after, but the Dogs insisted it was a tactical move to bring Laitham Vandermeer into the game.

As Essendon slumped to an eighth-straight defeat, injury-prone defender Jordan Ridley was subbed out midway through the second quarter due a suspected hamstring strain.

The Bombers have used 13 debutants this season - the equal most of any team in the AFL era - as injuries have ruined any hope they had this year.

Ridley, who previously won their best-and-fairest, has been restricted to just 10 games this season due to repeated soft-tissue injuries.

Essendon have 10 first-choice players currently unavailable, leading the Bombers to part ways with their high performance boss at the end of the season.

"The margin's obvious on the scoreboard, but the margins between contests are thinner than people probably appreciate," Bombers coach Brad Scott said.

"They just got us bit-by-bit over four quarters, which added up to a big margin."

The Bulldogs steamrolled the inexperienced Bombers, continuing their trend of dominating bottom-10 opponents.

But this victory - momentarily putting them back into the top-eight - does little to change the perception of the Bulldogs (11-8) as flat-track bullies.

The Dogs fell short against Adelaide and the Brisbane Lions before this match, taking their record against top-eight teams to 1-8.

As he was last week against GWS, Liam McMahon was again Essendon's shining light up forward, kicking their only two goals of the first half.

Australian Associated Press