Dead-eye Dicko

Tory Dickson has been working himself back into form after a couple of early season niggles, so could this week be a break-out game? 

As anyone who’s followed Tory’s career will know, this isn’t a random question.  Dickson has 14 goals to his name in his last four outings against the Crows, including five in last season’s elimination final.

With Jack Redpath and Jake Stringer sure to attract the attention of the Adelaide defenders, this might be Tory’s opportunity to make a difference.

Less Usher, more Bruce Springsteen

While we’re on scoring, it seems that ever since AFL boss Gillon McLachlan labelled the Bulldogs style ‘sexy’, the Dogs have produced a less attractive style built on the hard ball.  The Dogs have fallen to 12^th in scoring this season after finishing 4^th last year, but a glance at the stats suggest they have more than compensated in the less glamourous categories.

The Dogs are number one in contested possession and clearance differential, and lead the League in restricting opponents’ forward 50 entries.

Watching the Bulldogs play so far this season has been less like listening to the wine-and-candlelight grooves of Usher, and more akin to the working class hero sounds of the Boss.  Sorry, Gill.

Deja vu all over again

North Melbourne came into last week’s game against the Bulldogs as the AFL’s highest scoring team.  Yet, as fate would have it, they’ve now been overtaken by this week’s opponent,  the Adelaide Crows, who are scoring 114 points per game. 

So, what can we expect?  

Hard to say.  The Crows do have Eddie Betts, Tom Lynch, Josh Jenkins and Taylor Walker in front of goal, so it will take a mighty effort from the Bulldogs defenders to keep them quiet.  

But, at 57.3 points per game the Bulldogs team-defence have proven lockdown capabilities.  Fans will be hoping for a shootout, but all Luke Beveridge and Don Pyke will be worried about is the four points.

As big as Texas

Speaking of Tex Walker, the Adelaide skipper is just one of the plethora of big boys that both sides will be bringing to the contest this weekend.

As mentioned earlier, the Crows have named Jenkins, Lynch and Mitch McGovern alongside Walker and you’d expect that Sam Jacobs might wander forward at some point.  Similarly, the Dogs have added a couple of centimetres to their average height by bringing in Jack Redpath next to Jordan Roughead and Tom Campbell.

How does all of this extra height impact how the game is played on Saturday night? We’re about to find out. 

Bring on the weekend.