point victory against in the 8th round of the 2016 AFL season, collecting an astonishing 19 tackles over the course of the game due to the absence of running half-backs such as Bob Murphy and Jason Johannisen. His record has only been matched by Jack Ziebell and Jude Bolton. Coach Luke Beveridge lauded his efforts after the game, stating "We're not a huge tackling side because we are a high possession side, but that was almost a quarter of our tackles I think. It's quite extraordinary, in particular his third and fourth efforts." Liberatore also had a great game against in the 12th round of the season, gaining 24 disposals, one goal, eight tackles and 13 clearances. He went down with a syndesmosis injury in the 's 25 point loss to in the 19th round of the 2016 season, alongside teammate Jack Macrae who suffered a hamstring injury. To get him fit for the finals series, doctors used a rarely-used strategy involving the insertion of surgical string into his ankle in order to aid the recovery of his ankle at a quicker pace. He played every game in the 2016 finals series, during that time collecting a total of 79 disposals, 22 tackles, 23 clearances and 5 marks. Liberatore played in the 2016 AFL Grand Final despite an ankle injury suffered in the preliminary final the previous week, during his celebrations. Just before the beginning of the Grand Final, he realised he had forgotten his boots, and had to get his housemate to retrieve them for him. Liberatore just missed out on the Top 3 of the Charles Sutton Medal voting, placing 4th behind winner Marcus Bontempelli, runner up Dale Morris and third placed Lachie Hunter. He also won the Scott West Most Courageous Player Award. Liberatore's form dropped off in what was to be a disappointing 2017 season for both him and the Western Bulldogs. Playing 18 games, Liberatore averaged much lower amounts of kicks, handballs, disposals, marks and goals then he had in all previous years, and critics described his season as disappointing. Before this slump in form however, Liberatore started off the season with four solid games, getting a total of 47 tackles, 77 disposals and 2 goals. However, after these first four games he entered a period of poor form, only reaching 20 or more disposals five more times for the rest of the season. Liberatore's