North Melbourne will host the Western Bulldogs and make history by playing the first ever Good Friday AFL match.
At the end of the home-and-away season last year these two teams were beside each other on the ladder, but their fortunes in last year’s finals series and this season so far could hardly be more different.
The Bulldogs of course won the flag last year in an audacious manner, winning four straight finals to claim the premiership, while North Melbourne were comfortably knocked out in the first week.
This year the Bulldogs have started with a 2-1 record, not perfect but still clearly one of the better teams in the competition, while North find themselves in 17th, 0-3.
Of course it’s worth noting that the ‘Roos have had a difficult fixture to start the season, playing West Coast, Geelong and GWS – three teams who played finals last year, two of them in the top four.
The Bulldogs got wins over Collingwood and Sydney to start the year, but will enter this one on the back of a bad loss, knocked off by the Dockers in Perth last Saturday night.
Despite not getting a win North Melbourne have played decent footy, with a number of young players impressing. Still, they seem a few steps behind the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs at $1.30 to win isn’t incredibly good value, but $2.20 for them to win by 1-39 points looks like a decent offering given that their forward line has struggled to come together and that the Roos look competitive.
It also happens to be Lindsay Thomas’ 200th game and while he might not be the most loved player in the game he can kick a bag every now and then, it wouldn’t surprise to see him kick 3 goals ($3.20) to mark the occasion.