The very first AFL match to be played on Good Friday will be a battle for bragging rights in more ways than one between the two combatants, the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne.

Not only will the winner claim the first-ever Good Friday victory but they will break a win-loss deadlock between the two sides.

Since joining the VFL back in 1925, the Bulldogs and Kangaroos have crossed swords on 157 occasions, each side winning 77 times. The sides have also drawn three matches, in 1954, 1972 and 1987. 

Perhaps the most notable of the drawn matches was the one played in round 20, 1987 at the MCG. In a see-sawing encounter, the lead changed several times throughout the game before Bulldog midfielder Steve 'Super' MacPherson took a mark in the forward line late in the final quarter, the Bulldogs trailing by six points.

The siren sounded as MacPherson prepared to take his kick. With nerves of steel, he went back and from a 45-degree angle, split the goalposts with a beautiful drop punt from the 50-metre arc, to level the scores and force a draw.

In later years, the Bulldogs' coach on that day - Mick Malthouse - nominated MacPherson as the person he would choose to kick for goal if his life depended on it.

While this week's match will be the first ever played on Good Friday, the two sides have met on six previous occasions over Easter weekends, with the Kangaroos holding the edge of the Dogs, 4-2. The Bulldogs saluted by 26 points on Easter Monday in 1985, and by 39 points on Easter Saturday, 1992.

Recent matches between the two teams have seen the honours shared, with each side winning twice in their last four meetings, all at Etihad Stadium. North had a big win over the Dogs in round 21, 2014 but the Bulldogs were victorious by 23 points when the teams met for the only time in 2015.

The sides played each other twice last year, both matches low-scoring affairs, with North triumphing 61-45 in round 6 but the Bulldogs getting the chocolates 61 to 47 in round 20.