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Western Bulldogs will be out for their fourth win of the season when they meet Melbourne at the MCG tonight. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 7.40pm AEST.
Wins against St Kilda and Port Adelaide were positives in a good month for the Western Bulldogs, who showed signs of improvement in their performance before being dominated by an in-form Richmond side last week.
This is a danger game for the Dogs as Melbourne showed signs of improvement last week under interim coach Neil Craig in a spirited 35-point loss to St Kilda.
It has been tipped as a winnable game for Melbourne who will need to show the same endeavour as last week if they are to beat the Bulldogs.
The lowlight of the game against the Saints was Melbourne ruckman Jake Spencer’s negligent bump on Ben McEvoy, as he was one of Melbourne’s best players last week and he will be missed for the three weeks he is suspended.
Who’s hot?
Averaging 35 disposals in his last four matches including a career high 40-disposal effort against Port Adelaide in Darwin, it has to be Ryan Griffen.
Often overlooked by over clubs who tend to tag Adam Cooney or Matthew Boyd, Griffen has relished his role as the Bulldogs’ outside player and is truly one of the elite players in the game right now.
Matthew Boyd can also be considered in this category after averaging just a tick over 34 disposals a game in his last three matches.
Nathan Jones has been Melbourne’s best contributor all year, and at this rate you would expect him to win the Demon’s best and fairest in a cakewalk.
His last two games before the St Kilda game were against quality sides Collingwood and Hawthorn where he averaged 29 disposals against the pair – expect the same output from the ever reliable Jones in this one.
Last time they met
They last met in Round 4, 2012 with the Bulldogs running out 21-point winners in a tough contest, Adam Cooney picked up the three votes from that contest.
The Bulldogs have been dominant in recent matches against Melbourne winning the past six matches. Melbourne’s last win was in round 19, 2007.
While Melbourne will show more improvement under Neill Craig again this week, it’s hard to see Melbourne’s young midfielders being able to match it with the Bulldogs star midfielders, with bigger bodies expect Ryan Griffen, Matthew Boyd and Adam Cooney to all beat their opponents.
The Bulldogs will want a better return in front of goal this week; they kicked just eight goals against the Tigers last week and have only kicked more than 100 points on two occasions this year (against Brisbane and St Kilda).
Melbourne has managed the feat only once, in their win over GWS Giants, which remains their only win of 2013 to date.
The Bulldogs are ranked 16th and the Demons 18th for inside 50s in 2013. So don’t expect this to be the greatest spectacle on Earth.
Prediction: Bulldogs by 28
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