We've put together a short list of things to keep an eye on during Saturday night's clash with the Gold Coast Suns.
1. Up there Cazaly
The Bulldogs are undefeated at the ground named after VFL legend Roy Cazaly, having won their two home games in Cairns. Last year's round 15 clash against the Suns proved a thriller, storming home with a 10 goal to two last term to secure the four points after trailing by 37-points in the third quarter.
Luke Beveridge will be hoping that a 59-point turnaround won’t be required this time, but the Dogs will be up against conditions they wouldn’t have deal it in a while – Saturday’s forecast is 26 and rain. We’d kill for that in Melbourne but it’s probably not ideal conditions for footy.
Oh, and bet you can’t say, ‘Cazaly’s Stadium’ without singing the famous Mike Brady tune to yourself. Anyway.
2. Standing Tall
With Tom Boyd selected to make the trip to Cairns, it’s easy to assume that the Dogs will be packing the forward line with the big boys. While we’ll no doubt see a bit of that, you can expect Boyd to also spend plenty of time in the ruck.
Boyd has been developing nicely at VFL level as a part-time ruckman, and senior assistant coach Brett Montgomery told westernbulldogs.com.au on Thursday that the modern game demands big men play multiple roles, so it’s fair to say that we’ll see the mobile big man spelling Jordan Roughead at times on Saturday night.
Still, Bulldogs fans have been looking forward to a Boyd-Redpath combo up forward all season, and here it is.
3. No Gaz, no Suns?
This is one of those easy assumptions in footy that’s probably a bit off the mark. While Gary Ablett will be ranked as one of the all-time greats when he retires, there’s plenty of talent at Rodney Eade’s disposal and they’ve come into some form over the past fortnight.
While it’s tough to ignore the fact that the Suns are missing five of their best midfielders, including Ablett, Jesse Lonergan, Aaron Hall and Touk Miller are all very capable, and if allowed to get on top in the ‘phone box’, the big, hungry Gold Coast forward line will be waiting.
The Dogs pride themselves on the contested ball and have been at the top or near enough of the top of the table in this area all season and Luke Beveridge will be looking for more of the same on Saturday night.
4. Here Comes the Sun(s)
Speaking of the Gold Coast forward line, we in Melbourne are perhaps yet to appreciate how good Suns big man Tom Lynch is.
At 23, Lynch is becoming one of the elite forwards in the competition, if he isn’t already. He kicked five last week and his average of 3.2 goals per game has him right on the tail of joint Coleman Medal leaders Lance Franklin and Josh Kennedy.
And now there’s another one. Peter Wright, or ‘two-metre-Peter’, looks to have the talent to go with the catchy nickname, the 19-year-old also booting five goals in Suns’ big win over Brisbane last week.
It’ll need to be a combination of the Dogs’ defensive swarm, and the mids winning it out of the middle to keep the ball out of their hands.
