The Western Bulldogs will reunite with Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns this Sunday as they bid to hold onto their place in the top eight. 

They’ll have fond memories of the ground too, having won each of their four games at the venue.

Each of those matches came against the Gold Coast Suns in a four-year stretch from 2014-17, where the Dogs’ average winning margin was 38 points.

Seven members of the current Bulldogs squad played in the Club’s last game at the venue, three years ago.

Their opponents for this weekend’s crucial Round 18 clash, Fremantle, have recently adopted Cairns as their temporary hub, and accounted for Melbourne in wet conditions in Round 16.

Here’s a snapshot of the Bulldogs’ games played at Cazaly’s Stadium over the years:

2014, Round 17 vs Gold Coast

The Bulldogs’ first look at the North Queensland ground was a successful, albeit hard-fought, victory over the Suns, with a six-goal last quarter sealing a 28-point win after the margin was just two points at the final change.  Jack Macrae racked up 43 disposals and kicked two goals to be best afield.

 
2015, Round 15 vs Gold Coast

An extraordinary 10-goal last quarter saw the Bulldogs overcome a 26-point deficit at three-quarter time win by 22, after they’d kicked just four goals in the first three terms.  Two of those came from the boot of Marcus Bontempelli, who was awarded the three Brownlow votes. 

2016, Round 17 vs Gold Coast

A dominant start-to-finish performance from the Bulldogs which ended in an eight-goal win.  Mitch Wallis was the standout, kicking three goals to go with 25 disposals, while Koby Stevens kicked two and had a game-high 34 touches.

2017, Round 18 vs Gold Coast

The Bulldogs’ most recent visit to Cazaly’s was the Liam Picken show.  He booted a career-high six goals – the most of any player at the venue – to lead his team to a 54-point win.  The game was in the balance midway through the third quarter, but the Bulldogs put the foot down from there with the last eight goals.