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Thursday night footy takes a trip to Australia’s largest city, as the Sydney Swans host the Western Bulldogs in the second grand final re-match of the year! Join us on The Roar for live scores and a blog from 7:20pm (AEST).
It’s the second time the reigning premiers and the team they defeated have faced off against each other this year – the first match, a Friday night showdown in Round 2, ended up being a 23-point victory the way of the Western Bulldogs – but this is the first encounter between these two in the Harbour City since the Bulldog’s thrilling Election Day 2016 victory last season.
Both teams had the chance to recuperate on the bye last round, but their form in the weeks preceding could hardly have been more different. The Bulldogs sit sixth, with a 6-4 record, while Sydney are languishing at 16th, having lost all but three of their ten games thus far.
Tonight’s match, though, is an important one that will probably deceive anyone expecting a heavy Bulldogs win by way of looking at their ladder positions. The Swans – given the closeness of this year’s ladder, more than anything – still have a chance of making finals, but that door could slam shut if they lose tonight.
A win to the visitors, meanwhile, would set them up very nicely for the latter half of their year. Their Round 10 (the last round this duo played in) games also couldn’t have been more different – the Bulldogs produced their best performance of the year, defeating St Kilda by 40 points, while Sydney were disappointing in their narrow loss to the Hawks.
Jake Stringer and Lance Franklin are bound to be, as usually, massive forward targets for their corresponding sides, while the (pretty evenly matched) midfield battle will see Sydney’s midfield of Josh Kennedy, Callum Mills and Issac Heeney up against a Bulldogs midfield boasting Marcus Bontempelli, Luke Dalhaus and Lachie Hunter. Salivating stuff, if both sides produced their best.
While both teams had the bye, they’ve both made several changes to tonight’s sides. Sydney has lost patience with expensive import Kurt Tippett, axing him in favour of big-man Sam Naismith, while impressive youngster Oliver Florent makes way for Kieran Jack.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs have, unfortunately, lost three important players. Bob Murphy, Dale Morris and Tom Boyd are out – with hamstring, ankle and back injuries respectively – while youngster Bailey Williams has been omitted. To compensate, the premiers have included Travis Cloke, Matthew Boyd, Fletcher Roberts and Toby McLean into the side.
Prediction
The Swans will have the home crowd behind them, and an upset certainly wouldn’t be out of the question, but the Bulldogs are gunning for five in a row against Sydney, and have the vastly better form behind them. A win for the Dogs will be the result, then. Let’s say by three goals and change.
Western Bulldogs by 21 points.
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