The Western Bulldogs will welcome back Tom Liberatore this weekend after the star playmaker was today named in the side to face St.Kilda on Saturday night.

Liberatore missed last week’s 48-point win over the Gold Coast after injuring his ribs against the Tigers in Round 16, but returns in place of forward Jake Stringer.

Speaking to westernbulldogs.com.au on Thursday afternoon, assistant coach Daniel Giansiracusa said that while the Club had taken a cautious approach with the midfielder last weekend, he is right to go against the Saints.

“It’s a  pretty good replacement, to bring Libba in,” Giansiracusa said.

“He was pretty close to playing last week, but just with the flight and things like that we decided it was probably best just to get him right. 

“He trained really well today and he’s looking forward to getting out there again.”

While the Bulldogs will miss the presence of its leading goal-kicker in Stringer, Giansiracusa said that the Dogs’ forward structure is built around having a suite of players who can impact the scoreboard.

“So Jake comes out with that shoulder injury but we think we’ve got enough guys that can go through there,” he said.

“We’ve got the two bigs in Redder (Jack Redpath) and Boydy (Tom Boyd), but also our small-to-medium type forwards can catch the ball, and they can also get to the drop of the ball.

“That should enable us to kick a winning score.”

The Dogs have won four of their past five clashes with St.Kilda, but with the Saints’ finals hopes still alive, Giansiracusa said that he is expecting a fierce contest on Saturday night.

“They play a really good brand of footy, especially at Etihad Stadium, [and] their best footy is good enough to challenge the best sides in the competition, he said.

“They’re a high pressure team and they’ve got some dangerous players, especially in front of the ball, that we need to make sure we’re on our game to combat.”

Lukas Webb, Joel Hamling and Bailey Dale make up the emergencies.

Round 18 – Western Bulldogs v St Kilda
Saturday 23 July, 7:25pm
Venue: Etihad Stadium

In: Liberatore

Out: Stringer (shoulder)