WHERE & WHEN:Telstra Dome, Saturday 7 July, 2.10pm.

MEDIA COVERAGE

Television: FoxSports 1 (Melbourne 2pm, Adelaide1.30pm, Perth 12pm, NewSouth Wales 2pm, Queensland2pm)

Radio: SEN, ABCRadio (Melbourne, Adelaide,Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Darwin), Triple M (Adelaide), 5AA

Web: afl.com.au

HEAD-TO-HEAD:Played: 15. Western Bulldogs: 4, Port Adelaide:11.

LAST TIME: Port Adelaide 14.21 (105) dWestern Bulldogs 13.13 (91), at TIO Stadium, round 19, 2006.

TAB Sportsbet:Western Bulldogs: $1.68, Port Adelaide:$2.10

INJURIES
The Bulldogs will test Robert Murphy, who strained hishamstring against Fremantle in Darwinin round 12. The unlucky Tim Walsh (hamstring) will miss at least another threeweeks, while Daniel Cross (strained medial ligament) and Ryan Griffen(dislocated kneecap) will both be out for another five weeks. Michael West(knee) will miss the rest of the season.

For the Power Steven Salopek is out with an ankle injury,Damon White suffered a knee injury in the SANFL last weekend while NathanKrakouer has shin soreness and is slated for a test.

RECENT HEAD TO HEADHISTORY
When the Dogs beat Port Adelaide in Round 7 last year theysnapped an eight-game losing streak to the Power that stretched back to Round18 of 2000.

RECENT FORM
The Dogs will be looking to bounce back from a 26-point lossto the Glenn Archer-inspired Kangaroos at the MCG last weekend. Rodney Eade wasasked during the week what the key to doing just that was: “I think it’s just consistency…thefirst quarter at the weekend just wasn’t acceptable. Inconcistency againsurfaced. Once we can get that consistency in effort and attitude we cancompete with other sides.”

RED HOT PLAYERS
Daniel Giansiracusa was in fine touch against the Roos,gathering 27 touches and kicking three goals. Adam Cooney laid an extraordinary10 tackles in the same match and also had 25 possessions.

THE X-FACTOR
How will the Dogs respond to Rodney Eade’s blunt assessmentof their showing against the Kangaroos? As he mentioned during the week, hisside can match it with any other if his players can maintain a high level ofperformance, and that’s just what he’ll be looking for this Saturday.

FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS
There are two 2007 Bulldogs who have previously been listedwith Port Adelaide, but neither will be playing this weekend. Nathan Eagletonplayed 56 games for the Power between 1997-99 before crossing to the Bulldogsfor the 2000 season.

Interestingly, Eagleton was traded for Brett Montgomery, whospent six years at the club before the Bulldogs redrafted him in 2005. Eagletonwill miss with the second week of his two-match suspension, while Montgomery retired in Maydue to an on-going neck complaint.

WHAT THE FAN SAYS
"I guess it was inevitable. This Archer thing wasalways going to get on my, your and the Dogs' nerves. And, judging by the10,000-odd, ex-North players who ended up on the dais with the 300-gamer, maybeeven that great captain/coach upstairs with the long white beard couldn't haveprevented the "Do it for Arch" last Sunday.

That said, the Dogs were very, very, very average. Call it inaccuracy, call itinconsistency, call it Westy's view that they're underachieving under pressure,or call it subconsciously falling into line with the inevitable milestone-gamescript. Call it what you want. It was ordinary and average. I think even the Carlton loss, because ofits surprise element and the fact it's clearly being proved an accident, wasmore acceptable.

So maybe, just maybe, it's now fair and reasonable for someinstances of Rocket's "targeting" after defeats to at least bequeried as potential mixed messages.

Let's take the bookend failures against Carlton and North over the last month forinstance. After the Carltonmatch, Eade singled out Brad Johnson, a possible Coleman medallist this year,for poor decision-making in electing to shoot for goal rather than pass,granted from fairly improbable angles.

Since then, a seemingly two-minded Johnno has been doing anotable amount of unsuccessful dishing-off from perfectly gettable shootingdistances. Then last Sunday, one of the short-priced blokes for All-Australian full-back,Brian Harris, incurred the coach's wrath for what was fairly inarguably Brian'sfirst "unsuccessful" quarter of the season.