Blues Need To Keep Dogs On Leash


Blues v Bulldogs

By Shane Thiele
May 2 2002

Preview time again folks and thanks to St Kilda beating a draw out of Sydney last week, Saturday night's game has become the battle for the cellar. It's been another depressing week down Royal Parade with the news coming out of the medical rooms all negative.

No Hulme, Hickmott or Camporeale with the diagnosis on all three as bad as even the most pessimistic of supporter could have predicted - medical degree or not!
 
This weeks foe has been a nemesis over the year even when the Blues are travelling smoothly but they also find themselves in unfamiliar territory. The Blues were awesome in the first half of their Round 13 encounter last season. A lazy 11 goals up half way through the second quarter before allowing the Bullies to get back at one stage to within 4. We were sitting comfortabley in second and a Premiership was not out of the realms of possibility. Since that day we have lost more than we have won and apart from a few fits and spurts, have never been able to truly recaputure that form.
 
Crisis usually brings the best out of the wounded dog and the incentive of changing spots with the club who's President mocked their "tragic history" will no doubt provide the 'backs to the wall' incentive that a coach like Wallace thrives on.
 
Like the Blues of late, their form hasn't been truly reflective of a side yet to 'salute the judge'. Woeful kicking against Adelaide & Melbourne plus a hint of unhatched chicken counting against the Kangaroos is probably the only thing stopping them from being at least 3-2.
 
Clinging on to any advantage we can possibly muster, I eagerly awaited the tribunal verdict this week on one man in particular - Luke Darcy. Once again inconsistency reigned surpreme as Jude Bolton was found guilty yet Darcy cleared of similar incidents. It will be a big ask for a Blues make-shift ruck combination to curb one of the AFL's most influential ruckmen.
 
Apart from Darcy and the out of form Chris Grant there isn't really a lot of depth in the Bulldog height department. Bandy & Kretiuk are honest but hardly superstars and Trent Bartlett would have to be long odds to repeat the kind of game that destroyed us in 2000. I mean he's hardly set the world on fire since!
 
Sure, there's the talented trio of Gianseri....Gianserucua....Gia....bugger it..Guido!!, Murphy & McMahon but the rest of the side is basically made up of the usual suspects. Apart from perhaps Scott West they are starting to resemble battle weary underdogs that look like they've had every drop of fight squeezed out of them.
 
The near misses of '97 & '98 have finally taken their toll and there's a growing feeling that the senior group who were the keys to the Bulldogs 'success' have seen better days.
 
The Blues have made five changes but at the time of writing there are lingering doubts over two of them. McKernan and Fevola both face fitness tests on Friday night to defy the odds and line up on Saturday.
 
So, can we win??? I look through this injury depleted team and still see the names of Ratten, Murphy, Beaumont, McKay, Whitnall, Lappin and Bradley. The kids haven't looked that out of their depth and the middle-range players have at one time this year all shown some form. The big question is, can they all produce at once???
 
It may only be Round 6 but if there's one thing I've learnt from these previews so far is that nothing that you predict that may seem logical or based on a semblance of fact ever transpires. The cliched theory is that the Bulldogs have been very competitve, a win is just around the corner and the Blues - injury ravaged and depleted - are right for the picking. Boring!!
 
We will win on Saturday night and keep our fading 2002 hopes alive. The inclusions (although not superstars) are no mugs and we are hardly 'scraping the bottom of the barrel' by playing any of these guys.
 
Incentive works both ways and the fear of 16th - even for just seven days - will be enough motivation.
 
Save your priority picks for the weak Mr Jackson, we've got some unfinished business too attend to.
 
Carlton's history against The Bulldogs
 
Played 127, Won 80, Lost 43, Drawn 4
 
Longest wining sequence -  9 wins (1978-1982)
 
Highest Score for - 30.21 - 201 (1982)
 
Lowest Score for - 1.10 - 16 (1991)
 
Greatest winning margin - 129 points
 
Greatest losing margin - 59 points
 
Colonial Stadium Record - (Carlton) Won 2, Lost 3 (Bulldogs) Won 11, Lost 17
 
Last time they met
 
Round 14 - Optus Oval - 2001, Attendence 30,067
 
Carlton 23.15 - 153 d Western Bulldogs - 13.14 - 92
 
Key ball winners (All numbers possessions unless indicated)
 
Ratten - 34
Bradley - 29
McKay - 24
 
Garlick - 29
Darcy - 27
Liberatore - 26

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PREVIEW

CARLTON
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Western Bulldogs

Round 6

4 May 2002

 

 

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