IT'S BEING billed as the headline act on Easter Sunday, but Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge expects the head-to-head between star midfielders Marcus Bontempelli and Patrick Cripps to be largely confined to stoppages rather than an all-ground battle.
Both players have started the season strongly and are seen to be pivotal to the result this weekend.
"They will definitely be in and around that contest together for larger portions of the game," Beveridge said on Thursday.
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"I suppose at times they will definitely interact physically, but I wouldn't imagine 'Bolts' (Carlton coach Brendon Bolton) will assign any responsibility there.
"You will see some of that, which is great for the game and the spectacle, but Marcus won't have any responsibility directly to control his output over the four quarters."
While Bontempelli is a certain starter, Beveridge has flagged omissions from the lost to Collingwood due to strong cases being made at VFL level.
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"We need to reward some of the really good performances from the boys who have been playing at Footscray. I can't tell you how many (changes), but we've had some dialogue this week," he said.
"Expect a change or two."
Patrick Lipinski has accumulated 50 possessions in two VFL wins, Lukas Webb had 29 of his own last weekend and Jackson Trengove was arguably best on ground in the ruck with 26 disposals, 26 hitouts and two goals.
After missing the previous week through an ankle issue and illness, Trengove's form gives the Bulldogs potential assistance for first-choice ruckman Tim English.
"Obviously it’s an option (Trengove's inclusion)," Beveridge said.
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"I mentioned in the post-match the impact or the quantity of hitouts … it's an understatement to say they were skewed," Beveridge said.
"We're going well as far as reading what's happening there; our mids have done an amazing job. There's more to the game than hitouts and we feel like Tim is really progressing; we're rapt with his impact in the other phases of the game."
The Bulldogs have gone from 2-0 to 2-2 after tight losses to Gold Coast and Collingwood heading into a clash with winless Carlton.
Beveridge identified ball use as an issue in the past fortnight but believed his side had reason to be positive about the opening month of the season.
"We're tiptoeing through games where we're allowing the opposition significant momentum swings by really blatant turnover and skill errors at times. Some breakdowns – we got run down three times over the field last week," he said.
"I said to our players after the game, to your credit you stuck to your guns and went back to the belief in what we're doing.
"We come into this week feeling like, OK, let's bring the same kind of application against a team we need to respect."
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