By Mick Jeffrey
April 24 2003

Brisbane are the best team in the land by far. Your mission Rhodey, should you choose to accept it, is to go to the Gabba without some of your stars and get the 4 points. This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds. Good luck Rhodey. The Western Bulldogs venture outside of Victoria for the 1st time in the 2003 AFL season when they take on the team looking for a 'threepeat', the Brisbane Lions.

It is not as if the task is a hard one, as the Lions have only lost once to any oppostition at the Gabba in their premiership years. The problem is, the Bulldogs have to do this without some of their key players.

Unlike Bulldog teams of the past, this years team is already in Brisbane well before Sunday's game. If you are in the Caloundra area in Queensland tomorrow, keep an eye out for some of the players as they may be wondering around the town.

As for the team for the game on Sunday, to be televised around Australia at 1:00 PM on channel Eddie (9 for those not quite educated), there is a squad of 25, with at least 2 enforced changes to be made from last week's team.

Regular senior team members Ben Harrison and Lindsay Gilbee return after spending time on the sidelines with hamstring injuries. Harrison has been missing since the Round 1 win that seems a long time ago against Geelong. Gilbee has come through last week's match with Werribee very well and comes into consideration for his first appearance of the premiership season.

The 3 other players making up the squad of 25 in Brisbane are the maligned Nathan Eagleton, Brian Harris and Patrick Wiggins. All 3 have had a chance in the senior side at different stages this season and all played their part for Werribee last week. However, it seems that the only way they will get into the team is through a late withdrawl or a selection surprise.

To put the comparison between the teams into perspective, the Lions have 4 players still knocking on the door for senior selection that have a premiership medallion. Former Bomber Blake Caracella is not in the squad while Dan Bradshaw, Robbie Copeland and Aaron Shattock are in the 25, but may not get to play.

TEAMS
BULLDOGS:
B: Hargrave, Bassett, Croft
HB: Smith, Harrison, Power
C: R.Murphy, West, McMahon
HF: Dimattina, Bandy, Brown
F: Hahn, Skipper, Giansiracusa
R: Darcy, Johnson, Garlick
INT FROM: Gilbee, Eagleton, Harris, Cross, Wiggins, McGuinness, Bowden

LIONS:
B: Johnson, Michael, Brennan
HB: Ashcroft, Leppitsch, C.Scott
C: B.Scott, Voss, Pike
HF: Akermanis, Brown, Power
F: McRae, Lynch, Notting
R: McDonald, Black, Lappin
INT FROM: Charman, Bradshaw, White, Hart, Shattock, Copeland, McGrath