The Bulldogs came from two points down at the final change to deliver an exciting victory in front of the 6833 crowd – and coach Luke Beveridge says his group is “feeling the love” from its second home.

“We know we’ve got a lot of support in Ballarat,” Beveridge said.

“The scheduling of today’s game competes with the local leagues so there’s a lot of players playing for their own clubs and a lot of families that are watching their boys at their own local clubs.

“But I think we had a pretty good following, lots of Bulldogs people came to Ballarat from Melbourne and a lot of Ballarat people were here – we feel the love, absolutely.”

The win was crucial in the context of the Doggies’ season, moving its win-loss ratio to 3-4. Adding further value to the win, was the late withdrawal of stand-in skipper and star player Marcus Bontempelli – taking away further experience from an already youthful side.

But the Dogs were able to maintain its level longer than the Suns and broke clear in a dominant last quarter which boasted 24 inside 50s for 3.8.

Jack Macrae continued his outstanding season, racking up 40 touches. Jason Johannisen was dynamic in attack while Lachie Hunter (Saturday’s captain), Luke Dahlhaus and Toby McLean led the way in a tireless engine room that won the clearance count 52-31 despite Suns’ ruckman Jarrod Witts dominating the hit-outs 65-19, Witts winning 58 of them.

Meanwhile in the Gold Coast camp, Stuart Dew was disappointed his group was unable to stick with the Bulldogs for the entire much, but felt some of the youngsters showed promise.

"Our method and effort for three quarters, we were really proud of it, and then we let ourselves down in the last quarter," Stuart Dew said.

"We couldn't go with them in the end."

He went on to say how impressed he was with Ballarat’s facilities.

“Great venue, surface fantastic and (a) great crowd – no complaints.”