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Today’s a very important match for the Fremantle Dockers as they host the Western Bulldogs from Patersons Stadium. We’ll bring you live scores and commentary from 4:40pm AEST.
It is a long time since the Fremantle Dockers have gone in such heavy favourites against the Western Bulldogs, but today the expectation is that they will get the four points and start their charge towards eighth spot.
But such is the competition so far in 2012, there’s no easy games around. One false step from Fremantle from here on in and it would be catastrophic.
The next four games leading into their Round 19 Western Derby should result in four wins (Melbourne, GWS and Port Adelaide to come). But lose today, and they can almost kiss September goodbye.
There were good signs last week against Collingwood in the second half. Strike any memories of the first half from your mind now, because after the main break, they challenged the Pies and forced them to pick up their act. Matthew Pavlich played a lone hand up forward, but was given some help by Hayden Ballantyne.
They’ve made five changes for today’s game which includes getting back some run with Stephen Hill, some defensive help from Antoni Grove and Paul Duffield, while Zac Clarke is out for Kepler Bradley (Fremantle’s version of a yo-yo).
The Dockers also blood new talent Cameron Sutcliffe from Woodville-West Torrens, who was pick 71 in last year’s Draft.
For the Western Bulldogs unfortunately, their hopes of playing in the finals are pretty much dead. Their loss a fortnight ago against Brisbane and a massive loss to Essendon last week showed they just don’t have any consistency or the strength to be up near the top.
They’ve struggled this season to get any semblance of a forward line together, while their midfield has struggled against some of the bigger and stronger bodies.
They’ve been forced into making three changes for today’s game through injury (Dylan Addison, jaw; Adam Cooney, soreness; Bob Murphy, hip) while Brendan McCartney has dropped a misfiring Liam Jones and Jordan Roughead, while Ryan Hargrave’s missed the boat.
It will be a tough task for them today. The only saving grace for the Dogs is their recent record against the Dockers – since 2006, the Western Bulldogs have only lost once to Freo (at Patersons Stadium and only by seven points) – that’s seven out of eight.
It’s the final game of a very interesting Round 15 and who knows, it could just spring a surprise… we’ve had a couple so far this round. Can the Dogs dent the Freo finals hopes?
We’ll have live scoring and commentary coming up from 4:40pm AEST as the Fremantle Dockers host the Western Bulldogs from Patersons Stadium. In the mean time, have your say and let us know if there’s a big winner or loser from the weekend’s footy.
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