Where and when: Marvel Stadium, Sunday April 7, 2:20pm AEST
Last time they met: Mars Stadium, round seven, 2018: Western Bulldogs 11.15 (81) defeated Gold Coast 10.12 (72)
The Bulldogs managed to overcome a stubborn Suns outfit in a Ballarat arm wrestle without captain Easton Wood and star Marcus Bontempelli. The home side trailed at each change but Jack Macrae’s 40 touches helped them over the line. Former Gold Coast co-captains Tom Lynch and Steven May were also notable absentees.
What it means for Western Bulldogs: Two nail-biting wins, the latest a barnstorming fightback over the Hawks, has the Dogs brimming with belief. Another win would take them to 3-0 to start the season for the first time since 2009, a year they made the preliminary final.
What it means for Gold Coast: A combined margin of four points in the first two rounds for the 1-1 Suns says how competitive they’ve been. They took down the Dockers last Sunday and a repeat of that against the Bulldogs would be quite a statement, particularly on the road.
How the Western Bulldogs win: More of the same. They’re No.1 in the competition for clearances differential and inside 50s, which is giving them the opportunities to kick a winning score.
How Gold Coast wins: Make the most of Jarrod Witts. The Suns are second for hitouts and the Dogs are 18th, so the co-captain should give his side first use. Improved goalkicking accuracy is vital too, as Gold Coast almost cost itself against Fremantle with 0.8 in the third quarter.
The stat: Western Bulldogs have beaten Gold Coast five times in row by an average of 32.2 points.
The match-up: Alex Sexton v Easton Wood
Sexton has kicked four goals in each game to emerge as an early leader in the Coleman Medal race and looks the biggest threat at either end. Ranked the fifth-best Sun in the Schick AFL Player Ratings and set to reach the 100-game milestone, the 25-year-old is likely to be shadowed by the athletic and disciplined Wood.
It’s a big week for: Liam Picken
The 32-year-old called time on his career on Monday, with ongoing concussion symptoms preventing him from adding to his 198 games since last playing in the 2018 JLT Series. Saying farewell to a much-loved figure at Whitten Oval should only further fuel the Dogs.
Father Dougals’s Tip: Bulldogs by 14. If they won the last two weeks they can win this week. High confidence in this pick
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I have gone against logic and not taken Dangerfields vc score.
After holding Martin need big score from Captain Macrae
I’m going the same way. Let’s hope it works out
Same. The guy I’m playing has J. Cameron. Need a big score from Macrae today.
NO LATE CHANGES
FINAL INTERCHANGES
Western Bulldogs: Bailey Smith, Taylor Duryea, Ed Richards, Billy Gowers
Gold Coast: Anthony Miles, Brayden Fiorini, Jesse Joyce, Jack Lukosius
Burgess v Collins scenario. Recall same dilemma with Tigers Ellis and Morris. So who to play. Thumb me
Up – Collins
Down- Burgess
Thanks!
Thumbs up dursma 66 or after last week thumbs down scott
hoping scotty is a late out so i can get walsh’s points
who to field ?
TU – Scrimshaw
or
TD – Collins
just got home from box hill city oval , casey looked pretty average on a windy day , worrying signs for d’s supporters
Ok Macrae i hope you score big! i didnt take dangerfield score
Didn’t pull the trigger on Simpson & Dunkley to Lloyd & Dahlhaus to save trades and stick with my premos.
However, kicking myself if Dunkley stinks it up as well.
suns are absolutely smashing the dogs
Macrae Owners: “I need him to go HUGE today!”
Macrae: “Nah, I’m good”
On 9 SC points with the first quarter about to wrap up…
The one day I need him to step up. Think I’ll start using L. Neal a bit more as my captain.
Macrae pls
L. Hunter 43
J. Bowes 40
M. Suckling 36
T. Miller 37
M. Bontempelli 36
B. Fiorini 35
T. Liberatore 29
D. MacPherson 33
B. Gowers 28
A. Sexton 32
J. Dunkley 24
J. Harbrow 28
C. Daniel 19
L. Weller 26
A. Naughton 18
J. Martin 25
T. English 17
J. Witts 25
T. Dickson 16
C. Burgess 22
L. Young 15
S. Collins 20
J. Schache 13
A. Miles 19
Z. Cordy 12
P. Wright 18
B. Smith 10
P. Hanley 17
H. Crozier 9
J. Murdoch 17
T. Duryea 9
J. Lukosius 17
J. Macrae 8
W. Powell 16
M. Wallis 8
D. Swallow 12
E. Richards 7
J. Joyce 10
T. McLean 1
N. Holman 8
S. Lloyd 1
C. Ballard 4
E. Wood -2
J. Hombsch 3
Ummmm macrae anybody home.
Choo Choo!!! All aboard the hype train!
The Sun’s are back… Or they’re here finally.
9 dogs under 10 pts , suns getting the ball 1st , dew gett’n the job done
Macrae will still probably junk it up to 150.
80 will be plenty..even 100
Come on Macrae move it!
With Macrae – may be some concern with Libba back and also Schache in the side that they will all lead towards less possessions for Jack.
Libba is doing all the hard in and under work and Macrae is hanging outside the contests – same for Bont. Bont playing more mid time now with Schache there so he doesn’t need to be up front as much …
This is something to watch and may be of concern – thus far, Macrae is not getting in and going after the Sherrin – he’s hanging outside of the contests …
So who’s doing the thumbs down? Care to explain why? Are you watching on the TV?
Bont with 21 possessions, 16 kicks and 10 contested … Libba with 14 and 11 contested – Macrae only 11 possies and only 5 contested …
I own him too … but his stats were down last week too and he was only lucky to get a large boost to his score late last week … it is a concern I think
Good call Macca
I own Macrae too and captain today.
Concern justified however first 2 weeks have been great . He is an Uber premium and will still finish in top 8 midfielders for year so if you own keep the faith.
Will be watching 2 Nd half with great interest
good 3rd quarter thankfully – 52 point quarter and posies up to 23
Libba looking great too!
Collins <3
Oops , Macrae’s stinking it up . Think I should’ve taken dangers score . Please Maca,find the pill
Bloody Libba.
Macrae is my Captain. Time to hit the panic button. Shhhhhit. Hope he gets over 100.
Libba doing the hard work….Bont no longer needed up forward. Its going to hurt Macra numbers.
Half time scores
Western Bulldogs : 4.8.32
M. Bontempelli 77
Tom Liberatore 75
Lachie Hunter 72
Matt Suckling 64
Bailey Smith 48
Josh Dunkley 40
Jack Macrae 40
Caleb Daniel 39
Billy Gowers 38
Tim English 36
Hayden Crozier 32
Aaron Naughton 32
Tory Dickson 32
Taylor Duryea 31
Lewis Young 30
Mitch Wallis 26
Sam Lloyd 26
Zaine Cordy 24
Josh Schache 22
Ed Richards 21
Toby McLean 19
Easton Wood 13
Gold Coast Suns: 7.6.48
Brayden Fiorini 73
Jack Bowes 62
Jack Martin 60
Darcy MacPherson 56
Touk Miller 49
Samuel Collins 46
Lachlan Weller 41
Pearce Hanley 41
Jarrod Harbrow 41
Peter Wright 40
Wil Powell 40
Anthony Miles 39
Chris Burgess 38
Jordan Murdoch 37
Jack Hombsch 31
Jarrod Witts 30
Alex Sexton 30
David Swallow 28
Charlie Ballard 27
Jesse Joyce 26
Jack Lukosius 14
Nick Holman 7
How is Libba on 93?
-15 contested possessions
-8 clearances
-3 frees for
-18 disposals all at 83% efficiency
No I don’t doubt that, but how is he so good again?
ohhh i get you, no idea honestly wish i had the money to start him this year.
So perhaps this 2019 Gold Coast team isn’t the worst side in history after all?
libba 100 in the 3rd , nice
Macrae on 92 at 3/4 time. Come from nowhere.
12 possessions in 3rd quarter – took him to 23 – only two extra CPs to take him to 5 + got 1 free for in that quarter …
bont & macrae cant score at the same time , when bont went fwd , macrae started scoring
50pt qtr macrae. Hopefully a close game they win. 150.
Dunkley Need to go this week
3QTR Time scores …
Western Bulldogs : 5.10.40
Tom Liberatore 107
Jack Macrae 92
Lachie Hunter 89
M. Bontempelli 82
Bailey Smith 75
Matt Suckling 75
Mitch Wallis 71
Caleb Daniel 68
Josh Dunkley 53
Aaron Naughton 51
Hayden Crozier 48
Zaine Cordy 47
Tim English 45
Easton Wood 44
Lewis Young 44
Billy Gowers 42
Taylor Duryea 39
Toby McLean 39
Sam Lloyd 39
Tory Dickson 38
Josh Schache 26
Ed Richards 18
Gold Coast Suns: 8.11.59
Brayden Fiorini 92
Jack Martin 85
Jack Bowes 75
Jarrod Harbrow 71
Samuel Collins 71
Pearce Hanley 70
Touk Miller 69
Darcy MacPherson 67
Lachlan Weller 64
Peter Wright 59
Jack Hombsch 58
Wil Powell 57
David Swallow 55
Jordan Murdoch 53
Jarrod Witts 46
Alex Sexton 46
Chris Burgess 42
Anthony Miles 40
Charlie Ballard -4 40
Jesse Joyce 38
Jack Lukosius 28
Nick Holman 10
Bont having his knee ligaments looked at in the 4th quarter … but back up on bench – so all good for him hopefully.
Sam Collins repaying the faith to all those that help him – up to 80 midway into 4th quarter …
Man Libba just knows how to hunt that ball doesn’t he? Midway through last quarter, 25 possies, 7 tackles, 19CP’s and 10 clearances …
Bont can barely run – Suns may win this one!!
Come on, Macrae! Junk it up, you good thing!
Oh wow – tough 50m penalty against Suns – here come the doggies! 2 goals in a minute …
WB 50m kings
libba might go 160
Libba is looking like a potential keeper at this point. Certainly a viable captaincy option each week.
Regret not starting him, damn.
started @ 300k , happy chappy
Yeah, price didn’t put me off him rather the looming specter of a potential injury. Same deal with Fyfe. Didn’t start either of them, paying for it.
My usual policy for injury-prone players like that is to avoid them, unless
a) They’re heavily discounted, relative to their potential output, or
b) The points lost from not having them outweigh the cost of eventually having to trade them out.
Suns win by 5 points!!
well done stewart dew
Huzzah! Macrae finishes on 139!
Final scores – pre scaling …
Suns 73 defeat Doggies 68
Gold Coast Suns: 10.13.73
Brayden Fiorini 118
Jack Bowes 116
Lachlan Weller 102
Jack Martin 101
Pearce Hanley 96
Alex Sexton 84
Darcy MacPherson 84
Touk Miller 81
Jarrod Harbrow 81
Samuel Collins 80
Jack Hombsch 77
Anthony Miles 69
Jordan Murdoch 67
Peter Wright 65
Jarrod Witts 64
David Swallow 61
Wil Powell 61
Jesse Joyce 52
Charlie Ballard 47
Chris Burgess 45
Jack Lukosius 33
Nick Holman 31
Western Bulldogs : 9.14.68
Tom Liberatore 148
Jack Macrae 134
M. Bontempelli 123
Lachie Hunter 105
Matt Suckling 101
Caleb Daniel 95
Mitch Wallis 94
Bailey Smith 88
Josh Dunkley 80
Lewis Young 69
Billy Gowers 68
Taylor Duryea 65
Aaron Naughton 65
Easton Wood 60
Hayden Crozier 60
Zaine Cordy 60
Tim English +1 55
Sam Lloyd 53
Toby McLean 49
Tory Dickson 44
Josh Schache 32
Ed Richards 28
Libba scaled up to 155 – 22CP’s! 12 clearances, 9 tackles – 80DE
Macrae 139 – 14 CP’s, 6 clearances, 8 tackles – 81DE
Bont 123 (same) – 16 CP’s, 6 clearances 4 tackles – 61DE (killed his score)
Phew. Thought I went a bit early with my earlier comment. Very impressed by the win today. 2-1 start to the season. In the 8 baby!!!
Macrae 100 point last half what a gun, Libba is back to his contented/clearance beast mode.
Sadly Dunkley not what I wanted the other made up for him but now a dilemma with him.
Overall great game for my SuperCoach team
yeh , the prob with trading dunkley is if bont libba or macrae go down , he goes back into a full midfield role & starts scoring tons again, thats what all of us non owners are waiting for
Wow , didn’t see the game but Macrae must’ve really juncked it up . Did he cop a tag in the first half? Obviously a great second half to score almost a 100 points
Free kick Bulldogs!!