Where and when: MCG, Saturday 14 June, 2.10pm
Head to head: Western Bulldogs 21, Brisbane 15
FORECAST
Becoming fine, Min 9, Max 14
BETTING
Western Bulldogs $1.43,
LAST TIME THEY MET
Western Bulldogs 13.17 (95) def Brisbane Lions 10.12 (72), round 11, 2007, at the Gabba
FORM GUIDE
Western Bulldogs
The Bulldogs are well and truly back on track after suffering their first loss of the season to
The Lions will go in full of confidence having strung four winning games together. Carlton, St Kilda and North Melbourne were the first cards to fall with Fremantle the latest to go to the Gabba and come away empty-handed. Travis Johnstone was in fine touch against Freo with 26 possessions and three goals.
MEDICAL ROOM
Western Bulldogs
Matthew Moody (groin) is available, but Ashley McGrath (hamstring), Jason Roe (hamstring) and Josh Drummond (hamstring) are all slated for tests. Daniel Bradshaw didn’t come up after suffering hamstring tightness against Fremantle, Colm Begley (quad) is at least two weeks away, Nigel Lappin (achilles) is out for another three matches and Scott Harding’s knee is still being assessed.
RANDOM FACTS
* The Dogs have won the last four games against the Lions, but prior to that lost 10 of 11 matches.
* Jonathan Brown will play his 150th AFL game.
KEY MATCH UPS
Robert Murphy v Joel Patfull
Murphy has been in fine form all year and his return from a one-week suspension is a huge boost for the Dogs. He roams far and wide for his touches and Patfull will need to be right on his game to keep up.
Jonathan Brown v
The Lion game breaker was in good touch against Fremantle, kicking three goals and pulling down 15 marks, in the 22-point win. Lake is the obvious choice whenever the opposition brings a power forward to play, but Eade is showing more and more faith in Tom Williams who may also spend some time pitted against the
GAME-BREAKER
Jason Akermanis
A fair bit of water has passed under the bridge since Aker was a Lion, but there’s still a bit of feeling there. The fact that he is in outstanding form adds to the mix and whoever sidles up beside him will be in for a tough day.
WHAT THE CLUBS SAY
Western Bulldogs
"This is only our second time there (the MCG) for the year, but the fact is we really enjoy playing there and our record there is pretty good.
"We are looking forward to it, and we are playing another team in good form so I'd imagine there will be a reasonable crowd there for two teams that are probably going to play in the finals.
"So it's like a prelude for us for a finals game and we are really looking forward to it." – Rodney Eade, senior coach
“Most weeks I’d get DVDs of maybe three opposition forwards – this week I’ve got pretty much the whole Bulldogs forward line to study, five or six of them.
“Most teams have at least a couple of real key forwards, but the Bulldogs don’t have any really, which changes things.
“The last couple of years I’ve played on Johnson but I could easily be on Welsh or Murphy instead this weekend. And they can all take a good mark.” – Lions key defender Joel Patfull
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the club
