Star Lions recruit Josh Dunkley on Friday night for the first time comes up against his former club in the under-fire Western Bulldogs, who are facing the prospect of starting the season 0-3.
The Bulldogs (0-2) have started the year with two losses by over 50 points, ranking second-last for ball movement and defending ball movement, 16th for post-clearance groundball-gets and 13th for pressure applied.
“I’m concerned about the Dogs. Something is going wrong in the midfield … To me, I’m not sure they look 100 per cent invested at the moment. The hunger is not there,” triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown told Fox Footy’s On The Couch.
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While the Lions (1-1) bounced back to form last Friday with a home win over Melbourne, the previous week’s unexpected debacle against Port Adelaide after a superb pre-season will ensure there isn’t a hint of complacency when taking on the Bulldogs, who are staring down the barrel of a hat-trick of defeats.
“Even though last week was a good win, we’re playing a team (on Thursday night) that’s a little bit wounded, (and) been under the blowtorch all week in Melbourne,” Lions coach Chris Fagan said.
Bev knows Dogs will handle the pressure | 03:15
“We’ve got enormous respect for the Dogs. We’ve had some good battles with them over the last few years. They’ve played in the finals every year. We’re expecting the best version of the Western Bulldogs that there can be, so it’s actually really good that this test comes for us a couple of weeks after Round 1.”
It’s a “test” that will hold extra significance for Dunkley, who will lock horns with his former club for the first time since his off-season move to Brisbane,
“He’s a competitive beast,” Fagan said of Dunkley.
“There’s no trepidation there. He just wants to get out and play for the Lions against his old team. He’s very much looking forward to that opportunity.”
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This match gets underway at 7.20pm AEST from Marvel Stadium
Watch it live on Fox Footy (Channel 504) from 6.30pm.
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