AFL Round 4

Fremantle v Western Bulldogs
Sunday 6 April | 5:10pm AEST (3:10pm AWST) 
Optus Stadium, Perth • Whadjuk 
Broadcast: Kayo/Foxtel

More details to follow.

Watching the game from home? Sign up for a Bulldogs Digital Pass which includes a 12-month Kayo premium subscription for $350 (RRP $420).

NEED HELP ON MATCH DAY? 

The Bulldogs’ membership team will be at the match-day pavilion near Gate 1 (Barkly Street end). 

To contact us before match day:

• 📆 Monday – Friday, 10 AM – 4 PM
• 📧 membership@westernbulldogs.com.au
• 📞 1300 46 36 47

1. Old mates

There are two inclusions to face the Hawks… and they’re both former Hawks, in Taylor Duryea and Matthew Suckling.

A bit of much-welcomed experience for the Bulldogs in a crucial clash.

This season has been a tough one for Duryea, who has yet to get on the park due to a persistent quad injury.

He has finally been able to overcome it and gets his chance after two strong scratch match performances. The 29-year-old will play his first AFL game since last year’s elimination final, more than 12 months ago.

Suckling also impressed in last week’s scratch match, with three goals in his second game back from a hamstring injury.

Go well, lads.

 
2. Big boys + McEvoy

Chemistry is still building in the Bulldogs’ forward line, and specifically between key pillars Josh Bruce and Aaron Naughton.

The pair have combined for just 23 goals in 2020 – with six of Naughton’s 11 coming against the Adelaide Crows, and six of Bruce’s 12 against North Melbourne.

But both were important last week – particularly after quarter time – against a West Coast Eagles’ defence led by intercept mark kings Jeremy McGovern and Tom Barrass.

Bruce and Naughton will need to bring their A-game in the air again against the Hawks, with big Ben McEvoy returning to complement James Frawley and Sam Frost, plus swingmen Jack Gunston and Tim O’Brien.

If they can have a significant scoreboard impact, that’s a bonus.

 
3. Are you magnetic?

Whatever happened to the Aussie band Faker?

They had that huge hit This Heart Attack, and this other one called Are You Magnetic?

We’re getting a bit off topic.

But while we’re on the subject of magnets – and specifically, a magnetic attraction to the football – there are few better than Jack Macrae and Tom Mitchell.

Macrae ranks second in the competition for disposals and Mitchell fifth.

Both are the definition of elite. Both will be hugely important around the ball this week.

 
4. Back-to-back

You’ll have to dig a little bit to find out when the Bulldogs last recorded back-to-back wins against the Hawks.

All the way back to 2009-10, in fact.

Only one member of the Bulldogs’ travelling party to Adelaide this weekend played in either of those wins – now runner/coach Daniel Giansiracusa.

The Bulldogs recorded a memorable win against the Hawks last year, overturning a five-goal deficit at three-quarter time.

Prior to that, the Hawks had won 10 of the previous 11 matches between the sides.

With a finals berth on the line, there’s never been a bit time to improve that winning record against the brown and gold.

The Western Bulldogs have moved into the top eight with one match remaining in the 2020 season, after a comfortable 36-point victory over Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

If the Bulldogs can defeat Fremantle in Cairns next Sunday, they’ll confirm back-to-back finals appearances.

MACCA'S MVP | Vote for the Bulldogs best player in the clash against the Hawks for a chance to win a $20 McCafe Gift Card.

The win came at a significant cost, however, with Toby McLean suffering a serious knee injury early in the first quarter.

McLean kicked the first goal of the game after just 21 seconds, but shortly after his knee buckled underneath the weight of Hawks ruckman Jonathon Ceglar, and he was forced from the field on a stretcher.

The Bulldogs dominated the first half and led by 40 points at half time, before the Hawks lifted their intensity to limit the damage.

Caleb Daniel continued his brilliant season with a best afield performance, which included 28 disposals, 11 marks, seven inside 50s and a goal.

MATCH CENTRE | View all the team and player stats from the Bulldogs' win over Hawthorn

Five Bulldogs players registered 25 or more possessions – Daniel, Jack Macrae (29), Marcus Bontempelli (28), Tom Liberatore (28) and Bailey Smith (25).

Bontempelli was at his damaging best, particularly in the first half, and he finished with game-highs for inside 50s (eight), contested possessions (17) and clearances (11).  Seven of those clearances came directly from the centre bounce.

Aaron Naughton was lively in the forward half, kicking two goals and taking six marks, while Jason Johannisen kicked two goals from the wing in the first half.

The Bulldogs constructed their win with a dominance inside and outside the contest.  They won the contested possessions by 30 and uncontested possessions by 56, despite having 21 fewer hitouts.

They got off to the perfect start, kicking four of the first five goals, before booting the only three goals of the second term to establish a commanding lead.

The Hawks pegged the margin back to under four goals with plenty of time remaining in the final term, but the Bulldogs kicked the last two majors of the game to make sure of the four points.

MATCH DETAILS

Hawthorn                           1.1          1.2          5.3          6.4 (40)
Western Bulldogs           4.1          7.6          9.7          11.10 (76)

MATCH CENTRE | View all the team and player stats from the Bulldogs' win over Hawthorn

GOALS
Hawthorn:  Gunston 3, Breust, O’Brien, Wingard
Western Bulldogs:  Johannisen 2, English 2, Naughton 2, McLean, B.Smith, Wallis, R.Smith, Daniel

BEST
Hawthorn: Breust, Shiels, Gunston, Cousins, Greaves, Morrison
Western Bulldogs: Daniel, Bontempelli, Liberatore, English, B.Smith, Macrae

MACCA'S MVP | Vote for the Bulldogs best player in the clash against the Hawks for a chance to win a $20 McCafe Gift Card.

INJURIES
Hawthorn: Nil
Western Bulldogs: McLean (knee)