Luke Beveridge’s Western Bulldogs are faced with a must-win game over the lowly North Melbourne, but it may not be as easy a task as it looks on paper.
The Bulldogs (12-9, 118.5%) are now back in the thick of finals uncertainty thanks to their loss against Adelaide last Sunday evening, and can’t afford to drop another if they want to play in September.
As for the Kangaroos (3-18, 68.3%), they’ll be playing for pride – all but certain to finish the season in 17th position in 2024.
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At the selection table, Luke Beveridge has swung the axe outside of Tim English’s exclusion with an ankle injury, as Riley Garcia, Caleb Poulter and Nick Coffield were all surprisingly dropped.
Harvey Gallagher, James O’Donnell and James Freijah all return – as does out-of-favour premiership player Jack Macrae on the back of some outrageous VFL form.
North have also made four changes, with George Wardlaw, Zac Fisher, Dylan Stephens and Kallan Dawson recalled.
Harry Sheezel (ankle) will miss with injury, Zane Duursma has been managed, while Will Phillips and Toby Pink have been dropped.
The game gets underway at 1:10pm from Marvel Stadium.
Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504), streaming on Kayo and via Hubbl, from 12:30pm.
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There are no late teams for either side, with Jack Macrae (Bulldogs) and Miller Bergman (Kangaroos) the respective substitutes.
After a couple of early behinds, Roos full forward Nick Larkey marked in the goal square before strolling into an open goal for the game’s first major.
Young gun Sam Darcy – who is today playing full-time ruck in place of the injured Tim English – fired back for the Dogs not long after though, converting from a set shot after a strong contested mark.
Funnily enough, it was his direct opponent Tristan Xerri who did the exact same only 60 seconds later at the other end of the ground, with the talls having a big say early doors.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan strolled into an open goal again not long after the last major, with the Dogs and Roos locking in for a seeming shootout.
An Ed Richards tackle on the Bulldogs’ 50 metre arc gave the defender-turned-midfield a shot on goal, and he converted truly to give his side their first lead of the match of four points.
Laitham Vandermeer marked directly in front of goal 15 metres out to give the Bulldogs their fourth goal in the first half of the opening term.
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