The mission to stop dangerous Port Adelaide forward Charlie Dixon on Saturday night is likely to fall to Jackson Trengove – and he’s excited for the challenge.
Dixon played his first AFL game for 2019 last week in Port’s win against Geelong, and has form against the Bulldogs with 12 goals in his past three outings.
The duo spent two years together at Port, which Trengove hopes will work in his favour.
“I would have thought it’ll be the match-up,” he told SEN SA Breakfast this morning.
“I’ve played on him a couple of times and played on him a lot in match sim when I was at Port.
“In full flight he looked very good last weekend leading up at the ball… I think everyone in the game loves to see big men attack the ball and that’s what he did last Saturday night.
“Hopefully I can try to influence what he does this weekend and we can get the win.”
The 28-year-old has impressed for the Bulldogs – primarily as a key defender – since coming into the AFL side in round six.
Luke Beveridge’s team tinkered with the idea of two ruckmen through the pre-season, before settling on one within their team balance.
Young gun Tim English got the nod early, and Trengove has been able to settle back into a familiar role.
“I’d practised throughout the pre-season a lot in the ruck, which is where I finished up last year playing some good footy,” Trengove said.
“It was a little bit of (balancing) personnel of having two big men and finding that spot.
“I knew I could go down back and make an impact. It took me a few weeks to keep chipping at that spot, but then having that conversation with ‘Bevo’ of ‘I think we need to move you down back and play that spot from now on’.
“Tim’s 21 and he’s going to be an emerging star for our football club in that spot. He’s a really big man and he’s come a long way this year.
“It’s been great to settle back there – I played a lot of football down back when I was with Port, so I’ve just had to settle in, get used to that position again and find my spot in the team.”
Trengove said it had been a season of ‘frustration’ so far for the Bulldogs.
Despite “doing a lot of things right” and being competitive for large periods week-in, week-out, the side has managed just five wins.
BONTEMPELLI: FORWARD CHEMISTRY BUILDING
Now in his second year in red, white and blue, Trengove is confident the Bulldogs are building, and can match his old side on their home turf.
“We are playing some really good footy,” he said.
“We’re probably having some lapses in some quarters, but the stats are showing we’re doing a lot right and it’s just about getting that right for four quarters.
“It’s going to be a tough battle for us this weekend.
“We come over full of confidence that we can match them… we’ve got a really strong midfield, so do they. They’ve got some big forwards that we’ll have to take care of, so it should be a cracking game on Saturday night.”
