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Tempers flared between the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast Suns in Ballarat as Damien Hardwick’s side look to chase down the hosts’ sizeable lead.

The Bulldogs enjoyed a 41-point advantage at the end of the first quarter but the Suns have since returned serve to keep themselves within touching distance.

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With the margin closing, tensions continued to rise in Ballarat and they threatened to boilover when the Bulldogs’ Laitham Vandermeer sold a cheeky shove from a Suns star, but it sparked an all-in scuffle behind the goalposts.

Prior to that moment, the Bulldogs’ Cody Weightman was the star of the show thanks to his five goals, with four coming in the first quarter.

The pick of the bunch undoubtedly came after he soared high into the air to take a stunning mark

It capped off a rapid move from the Bulldogs in which they moved the ball off the centre bounce into Weightman’s hands in a matter of seconds.

Weightman didn’t make the mistake with punting the ball through for his second goal of the day as Hall of Famer Dermott Brereton noted how lively the 23-year-old had been.

“He’s happy with that mark, Cody Weightman,” Brereton said.

“You could actually see (Bodhi) Uwland was a little bit, ‘Is he staying down, do I go with him, is he going to wrap around?’”

Brereton also noted an interesting trend with umpiring of late and it was one that left Suns coach Damien Hardwick perplexed in the coaches box.

The Suns’ debutant Jed Walter appeared to execute a perfect tackle on the Bulldogs’ Bailey Dale and perhaps should’ve earned a penalty for Dale holding onto the ball, but it was not paid.

“If the ball touches the ground while in the tackle, that’s holding the ball,” Brereton said.

“I’ve noticed this weekend they’ve [the umpires] been very lenient on holding the ball.”

QUARTER BY QUARTER WRAP

FIRST QUARTER

Bulldogs small forward Cody Weightman has given the Bulldogs an exceptional start to their match against Gold Coast in Ballarat, kicking four first-quarter goals to put the Suns into a 41-point deficit at quarter time.

Kicking with the wind to start the match, Weightman kicked his first two goals in the first two minutes of the match to get the hosts off to a red-hot start.

Teammate Aaron Naughton joined in not long after to kick his first, and hand the hosts the perfect start.

Ben King registered the Suns first just first the 10-minute mark of the quarter, before Weightman replied almost instantly with his third.

His fourth came at the 24th minute mark of the quarter, with four of his five disposals resulting in goals.

Oskar Baker kicked back-to-back goals, before a Marcus Bontempelli goal on the siren made it a nine-goal quarter for the hosts; kicking with a very strong wind.

Gold Coast Suns gun Noah Anderson has been the best player for the visitors so far, with 11 disposals and three clearances to continue his hot start to the season.

SECOND QUARTER

A slight resurgence from the Suns keeps the visitors with a sniff at half time, kicking 21 points to the Bulldogs’ eight in the second quarter.

Goals from Tom Berry and David Swallow started Gold Coast’s quarter with the wind nicely, before Cody Weightman kicked his fifth goal in what was a remarkable first half for the Bulldogs small forward.

Ben King kicked back for the Suns at the 12-minute mark to snare his second for the game so far, and subsequently got the margin back to 28 points.

The Bulldogs were then able to stem the flow of scoring, not conceding a goal for the rest of the quarter in a mighty effort given the harsh wind Gold Coast had behind them.

Ed Richards has been electric off half-back for the Bulldogs with 16 disposals at 81.3% efficiency, while Noah Anderson has continued to get the ball going for Gold Coast with 17 disposals and 457 metres gained at the half.

The Bulldogs activated their sub in the first quarter, with new recruit Nick Coffield out with a suspected shoulder injury.

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