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Western Bulldogs will be massive underdogs when they face Geelong tonight in arguably the most one-sided clash of the round. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 7.40pm AEST.
Geelong: before the season they were labelled as fading has-beens, or more refined, as a ‘team who will need to rebuild soon’.
But the Cats bared their claws in a thrilling match against the Hawks and have not lost a game this season, placing second in the market to win the premiership (ironically, after Hawthorn).
On the other end of the scale, the Bulldogs have shorter odds for the wooden spoon than the Gold Coast Suns, and have shown why in most of their performances.
After a brilliant display against the Lions in Round 1, the Doggies have fallen flat on their face.
They lost games against Fremantle and Richmond, but their effort in the torrential Adelaide rain was more than worrying.
Their 80-28 loss against the Crows had most fans watching through the cracks in their hands, with the Bulldogs going goalless in the second and third quarters.
Geelong will field a mostly unchanged team to the one that triumphed against Sydney last week, with James Kelly coming into the side to replace the injured Paul Chapman.
In the other camp, the Bulldogs cop a massive blow in the loss of Daniel Giansiracusa for two weeks with a shoulder injury.
Ryan Griffen is also out for this match with a shoulder injury. Promising youngster Ayce Cordy is also out.
Geelong are fourth for uncontested disposals, second for scores from turnovers. The Doggies mustn’t let Geelong rule the midfield or succumb to the pressing pressure of the Cats.
Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney has told his boys to be bold, and “have the courage to … move the ball and use the ball”.
He is aware that the going will be tough at times, and has called for the players to keep putting in 100 percent for the whole game (and season), saying, “There’s no doubt some of our younger players will have patches in the game where it’s getting away. It’s how well they get themselves back.
“That’s almost the definition of maturity. In any job, if you have a bad minute, you don’t let it become a bad day or week. You can correct it and they’ve got to learn to do that.”
The Dogs will sorely miss the composure and experience of Griffen and Gia, and it will show. However, if this young squad gives their all, strange things can happen in football.
Realistically though, you can be sure the Geelong staff have already pencilled this game in as a win ahead of a challenging four weeks against Richmond, Essendon, Collingwood, and Port.
This one could get ugly, quickly.
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