Senior Coach Luke Beveridge says the Bulldogs will approach Sunday’s game mindful of the Bombers’ strong recent form, and is confident of his team’s ability to replicate the effort from last week’s win against Collingwood.
 
“They’ve been pretty good the Bombers, so we’re expecting them to come with their recent form. We’ll be ready for it,” Beveridge said.
 
The Bulldogs go into the game unchanged, with the match committee opting to reward the effort of the side that controlled the majority of the match against Collingwood.

TEAMS: View the Western Bulldogs and Essendon sides that will line-up on Sunday. 

“I think it’s the first time all year (that we’ve gone in unchanged), we’re really happy with the way we played last week against the Pies,” Beveridge said.
 
“We were happy with the way we set up and the output of our players last week.”
 
Beveridge lauded the team’s depth and ability to cover losses after Jordan Roughead, Joel Hamling, Fletcher Roberts, Koby Stevens and Toby McLean all succumbed to injury in recent weeks, and said the team will be better placed when they return.
 
“At different stages everyone loses players, and you got to find a way to still try and win under those circumstances and that’s a real credit to our players that they’ve been able to do that at different times,” Beveridge said.
 
“If we can come into the back part of the year and be a team that’s sniffing around the eight and be reasonably healthy, then it all bodes well.”


MATCH INFORMATION: Broadcast and ticketing information for the Round 18 clash at Etihad Stadium.