Roar Guru
The Western Bulldogs are chasing their first win for the season as they host St Kilda this evening at Etihad Stadium. Join us from 7.40pm AEST for minute-by-minute commentary and live score updates.
This is likely to be a close game with two evenly matched teams both coming out of their recent premiership windows, and looking to rebuild again under first time coaches.
The Saints currently have the wood over the Bulldogs, having won the last six encounters, including two preliminary finals.
The Bulldogs are yet to win a game, but showed last week against Adelaide that they are capable of putting together good patches of football when they came from well behind to momentarily take the lead in the final quarter.
An interesting aspect about the game is that just as Scott Watters works to expand on the Saints’ previous dour gameplan, Brendan McCartney is aiming to improve the Bulldogs’ capacity to lock down teams and win the footy back.
To succeed the Bulldogs will be hoping that the return of form last week of both Brian Lake and Lukas Markovic will continue as they try to keep Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke contained.
The skipper, Matthew Boyd, has been in good form and Bob Murphy is the all-important release valve from half-back, but he doesn’t have many big targets to aim for so it’s a matter of tight, crisp passes to keep the footy.
Luke Dahlhaus is excellent when the footy hits the deck, but he needs help, and unfortunately Shaun Higgins has been in patchy form.
The St Kilda defence looks more that capable of keeping their opponents to a losing score, led by Sam Fisher and assisted by Sam Gilbert, and of course Brendon Goddard is never too far away helping the defence and starting quick counter-attacks.
The midfield clash looks a beauty with Nick Dal Santo and Lenny Hayes up against Adam Cooney and Ryan Griffen, the Bulldog pair being slightly under done.
A recent good record on the part of the Saints, plus the fact that their forwards look more threatening than their opposite number, means a St Kilda win by 15 points.
Can the Bulldogs notch up their first win of 2012 tonight? It’s Saturday night footy coming from Etihad Stadium, and throughout all four quarters we’ll have live scores and commentary beginning at 7.40pm AEST so if you’re watching or following along, leave us a comment in the space below.