With a new season finally upon us, westernbulldogs.com.au lists the hot topics ahead of our season opener against Greater Western Sydney on Sunday.
Us vs them
Some rivalries are manufactured, but for a whole host of reasons we don’t need to outline anymore, this one isn’t. We love playing the men in orange, and we can’t wait for the first bounce on Sunday.
Even coach Luke Beveridge acknowledged as much when he spoke to SEN on Tuesday.
“I have heard one or two of our players mention that there’s a bit of a rivalry… so the existing group against their group, there’ll be some uplift there in emotions I’d say.”
But it’s a mistake to think just of that Preliminary Final; Beveridge told the Freedom in a Cage podcast that the rivalry had deepened since then after they’ve got a hold of us a few times recently.
You won’t want to miss this.
Naughty by Nature
If you’ve watched any of our coaches press conferences over the last month, from Rohan Smith, to Steven King to Bevo himself, you would have had a sneaking suspicion that Aaron Naughton was a good chance to debut this week.
He’s young and is still learning but he’s shown plenty in his short time at the Club. He’s competitive, he’s calm under pressure and he snatched an impressive seven intercept marks in the JLT game against Collingwood a couple of weeks back. In just his second competitive match.
He’s obviously still only 18 but benefited enormously from playing against men for Peel Thunder last year. Whatever it is, he’s got it.
Just leaves us with one question. Does Lewis Young present him with his jumper?
Macrae 100
100 games already? It seems like just yesterday that Jacko won the 2013 Chris Grant Best First Year Player award, and here he is about to raise his bat to commemorate reaching the century on Sunday.
He sometimes doesn’t get the credit that his higher profile teammates do but Macrae was dominant at times last season, picking up a team-high 27.5 touches per game, and is the one most likely to break the magical mark of 40 possessions each week.
Bonti labelled him outstanding and consistent last year, which is about right, and one of the best compliments you can get from a teammate.
Congratulations Jack, here’s to 100 more.
Heroes of March
Finally… footy season is here. We loved the tennis, we loved the cricket, we even pretended we cared about the Spring Carnival for a bit there, but THIS is what we’re waiting for.
The only thing missing is what our newest correspondent, Robert Murphy, poetically described as ‘the gentle charms of Autumn’, which usually arrive arm in arm with each new season.
Instead, it’s hot outside, and we’re off to Canberra to open our season, where it’s forecasted to be a steamy 27 degrees.
But none of that will matter when the siren sounds and the ball is bounced on Sunday afternoon and The Ride begins again.
