1. Standing room only

How important is this game? 

If the Dogs were to drop this one, you can start planning your September getaway, so the story goes.

The good news is Bulldogs have not lost to Essendon during the Luke Beveridge era. Of course, this isn’t the same team from the past couple of years with a number of ‘banned Bombers’ back on deck and a fleet of younger players maturing into serious footballers.

In short, even for the neutrals, this is going to be a ripper, so if you don’t already have ticket you better get to it.

You’re welcome: Tickets

2. #CD50

Caleb Daniel will play his 50th game this weekend and what a ride it’s been.

Caleb came to the Club in 2014 essentially in exchange for Liam Jones, and since then he’s won a premiership medal, w̶a̶s̶ ̶r̶o̶b̶b̶e̶d̶  just missed out on the NAB Rising Star award and has become one of the premier ball users in the competition. 

Next time he gets the ball, you’re going to notice how calm you are.  That’s because he almost always makes the right decision.

And at just 21 he’s reached cult hero status among the faithful and beyond.  Only the chosen few get a video like the one below.

Congratulations CD, here’s to many more.

3. The rivalry index

Where do Essendon sit on your list of rivals?

On field there hasn’t been a lot out of the ordinary, although there was one game… You know which one.  Chris Grant kicks one after the siren, ensures the 2000 Bombers don’t go through the season undefeated.  They hated that.

But that was just one game, and it was 17 years ago, so It may be that if there is a rivalry, it’s in the stands.  Geographically the Dons are a natural fit, and most Bulldogs fans probably grew up surrounded by Essendon supporters, so there’s always a bit of feeling there.

As we said above, there’s a fair bit riding on this one so the losing fans are going to be especially salty on their way out on Sunday.

Could be the start of something.

4. Grounding the Bombers

So how do we do it?

The Bombers play a kind of free-flowing, keepings off style of football that’s Crows-like dangerous when it gets going.

Brisbane and North Melbourne have been able to restrict their game in recent weeks, starving the Bomber forwards, and that will be the challenge for the Dogs this week.

According to the Herald Sun’s The Drill podcast, when the Bombers are kept below 90 uncontested marks, they’re 2-6; above 90 and they’re 7-2.

So you’ll likely hear a bit about the Essendon forwards this week, and fair enough there are some serious weapons down there, but where this one will be decided is in the midfield, where it’s probably in the Dogs interest to make this a street fight.

Gentleman, start your engines.