Venue: SCG
Date: Sunday, May 4
Time: 1.10pm AEST
Head to head: Sydney Swans 69, Western Bulldogs 71, drawn 1
Last time: Sydney Swans 15.10 (100) d Western Bulldogs 8.9 (57), round nine, 2007, Manuka Oval
Betting: TABSportsbet: Sydney Swans $1.48, Western Bulldogs $2.55. Centrebet: Sydney $1.47, Bulldogs $2.70
Summary: The Swans are experts at locking down sides but they will have their hands full this week against the Western Bulldogs, who can call up multiple runners and multiple goalkickers. Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade initiated the shutdown style while at Sydney and now employs the free-flowing game, so he should be able to exploit the Swans' pitfalls. Sydney will need to shadow the likes of Jason Akermanis, Brad Johnson and Robert Murphy and try to neutralise onballers Scott West and Daniel Cross. But they have the runs on the board - the Swans have won their past five games against the Bulldogs, including four at the SCG. The Bulldogs are renowned for kicking big scores, which is a problem for the Swans, whose forward line has been reconstructed after the suspension of Barry Hall and Paul Roos' decision to drop the hot-and-cold Nick Davis for a month. Veteran ruckman Peter Everitt lines up for his first game of the season.
Key: Attacking options. Quite simply, the Bulldogs have plenty more of them.
Tip: Bulldogs by 10 points
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
