The Fremantle Dockers host the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night in Round 3 of the 2017 AFL Season, and the fortunes of the two clubs could hardly be more different.
Fremantle are in a bad place – after producing a four-win season last year, they’ve started 2017 in no better form, losing their first two matches of the year.
They were comfortably beaten at home by Geelong in Round 1, and then absolutely slammed by Port Adelaide on the road last week.
In the end they could manage only eight goals against the Power, and lost by a margin of 89 points, prompting much speculation about what changes need to be made for the team.
The Bulldogs on the other hand have backed up winning the premiership last year with a 2-0 start to 2017.
They weren’t at their most convincing in Round 1 against Collingwood, but came away with a win all the same.
They found a higher gear last week when they battled the Sydney Swans and though the Swans put in a good effort, the Dogs romped home to victory.
They’ve got really enviable depth and have found some new life in a forward line that is now gelling together and can do some serious damage.
Ironically the last time these two sides met the Dockers were victorious, but don’t read too much into that, it was Matthew Pavlich’s retirement game and the Dogs were crippled by injury at the time.
Fremantle have won five of the last six between these sides in fact, but you can safely ignore that – it’s already ancient history.
It’s hard to see this being anything other than a win to the Bulldogs but the tricky decision is working out by how much.
Given Fremantle’s struggles at both ends of the ground, the Dogs at $1.92 to beat a -31.5 line and $2.25 to win by 40+ look well within reach.