Last year’s nine-point victory over St Kilda symbolized more than four points for the Western Bulldogs, it signaled a change in the status quo between the two sides.
The Saints had won the past eight encounters against the Dogs prior to that night.
Indeed in the 18 encounters between the two sides dating back to 2003, St Kilda had won 14.
For the first time on that Saturday night in 2013 at Etihad Stadium, the Bulldogs three 2012 first round draft picks - Jake Stringer, Jack Macrae, Nathan Hrovat - played together.
And for the first time in eight matches, the Bulldogs beat the Saints.
They’re two teams looking to the future, and as Tom Campbell told RSN radio on Wednesday morning, this Sunday’s match-up is the time for the young Dogs to set a standard for battles between the Clubs in the years to come.
“We know internally St Kilda are a team that has a lot of young players that we’re going to play against for a very long time,” Campbell said.
“As younger players we take all these games against teams that are young as well, as ones that we’ve got to draw a line in the sand.
“[We know] that we’re going to play against you for a long time, and we’ve got to show you that it’s going to be a fierce contest.”
“Every game is important, and we’re going to be going really hard at St Kilda on the weekend.”
After being handsomely beaten around the ball by the reigning premiers, Sunday’s match against the Saints provides the Dogs with a chance to reaffirm their roots, to get back to the contest and build from there.
The Bulldogs rank equal fifth in the league for contested possessions (143.7 per game) this season, while St Kilda rank 17th (127.5).
“I think for us we know the way we want to play, [that is] win the contested footy and really be hard around the contest,” Campbell said.
“When we do that , we really play well.
