Shortly before the end of Essendon’s surprise - and surprisingly emphatic - win over the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Friday night, Bulldog Tom Liberatore collapsed as if shot in the middle on the arena, prompting Essendon midfielder Darcy Parish to signal to the bench in alarm.

Post-match, both Liberatore and Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge downplayed the incident, saying Liberatore was not concussed, but had twisted an ankle and it could not bear his weight. Hence, they say, the operatic tumble.

Liberatore’s surprising fall during the Bulldog’s defeat to Essendon. He later said he was fine.Credit: Channel Seven

Momentarily, Liberatore personified the Bulldogs. In a match they needed to win to authenticate their dodgy finals bona fides, they put in an increasingly ragged performance and in the last quarter fell away completely, wilting under the pressure of an Essendon team who also confounded expectations by growing stronger as the match went on before bundling it up with a run of five goals in 10 minutes in the last quarter.

The numbers don’t make for pretty reading. The Bulldogs have a vaunted midfield, headlined by Liberatore, captain Marcus Bontempelli and Adam Treloar, but were smashed at stoppages and clearances by Essendon’s lower profile on-ball division. Bontempelli had just five touches the second half.

The Bulldogs were wasteful, kicking nine behinds from set shots on the night and mustering just 3.7 in the second half, including two goals in junk time in the last quarter. Not for the first time, they threatened much more than they delivered. And they were undisciplined, giving away three 50-metre penalties.

But it was the midfield black hole that most vexed Beveridge. “The centre bounce situation, week to week, is such important territory and as a scoring avenue,” he said. “They came out a bit too clean at times. They only scored three goals from it, but it seemed like more as far as territory goes.

The Western Bulldogs look dejected after a loss during the round 5 match against the Essendon Bombers.Credit: Getty Images

“It is an area that, before this year, we have been measuring up pretty well in. We’ve probably been in the top two or three, regardless of ladder position, but it is something we go to work on pretty diligently. We couldn’t get the upper hand, they were pretty good in there.”

For all the quality in their list, the Bulldogs are now 2-3 and again looking more like pretenders than contenders. Beveridge said he understood that people were mystified by the Dogs. “It was a disappointing night. As it rolled on we didn’t get anything going,” he said.