Teams

The Demons have made one change to the side that defeated the Gold Coast by 73-points last week, bringing in playmaker Christian Salem to replace the injured Dean Kent.

Salem is joined in the side by Christina Petracca, Billy Stretch and Vic Michie, who’ll round out the interchange, while defender Oscar McDonald, Jack Grimes and Alex Neal-Bullen have been named as emergencies.

Stats box

-          Ranked 1^st for clearances per game

-          Ranked 5^th for points per game

-          Ranked 3^rd for hitouts per game

Talking heads

“They’re a good, young team. They play a style of footy we really respect and they’re hard around the ball and they’ve got a good midfield group.

“Their defence rebounds really well and they generally go into a pretty exciting forward line.

“That’s why they’re five [wins] and two [losses] and that’s why they played in the finals last year. It’s a great opportunity for us to gauge how far we have come.”

“[Marcus] Bontempelli, Libba (Tom Liberatore), [Mitch] Wallis, [Jake] Stringer and [Jack] McRae – they get all of the publicity.

“But if you look at guys like Caleb Daniel, who has come into the team and played a really significant role for them and [Koby] Stevens, who has been good coming across from another footy club – they’ve become a system-based team.

“They’re got some really good depth and some really good depth of young talent.”

-          Paul Roos

“The Dogs are in great form and they’re sitting in the top four, so they’re playing a really fast game style. They’ve got a really good defence and they move the ball really quick, so we’re certainly going to be tested in both areas.

“We’re really looking forward to the challenge against a certain top four team.”

-          Bernie Vince

Last time we met

Western Bulldogs defeat Melbourne 153-55 at Etihad Stadium.  Luke Dahlhaus had 32 disposals and jake Stringer kicked four goals.