Collingwood vs Western Bulldogs preview – First Qualifying Final

Minor premier Collingwood face the Western Bulldogs in the First Qualifying Final on Saturday night 4th September at the MCG and the black and white army will be out in force to cheer on the Magpies as they attempt to make their way past the Bulldogs to a Preliminary Final berth.

Collingwood welcome back Alan Didak, Leigh Brown and Ben Johnson for the clash against the Bulldogs and defender Simon Prestigiacomo will not play after failing to recover from a thigh injury in time.

Josh Fraser goes out after playing his 200th game last week and both John McCarthy and Tyson Goldsack have also been left out of the side.

The Western Bulldogs have named Ryan Griffen and Brad Johnson although both are under injury clouds while Will Minson, Shaun Higgins and Easton Wood come into the team to face the Pies.

Out of the Bulldogs team go Brodie Moles, Andrejs Everitt and Liam Jones omitted with Jordan Roughead to miss through injury.

Finals and Collingwood in the mix means big crowds for the AFL and Saturday night’s result will tell us plenty about both sides.

Collingwood vs Western Bulldogs preview – First Qualifying Final

	Collingwood	Western Bulldogs
	1.24	4.25

Saturday, 4th September MCG 7:20pm

Last Week

Collingwood went down by three points to Hawthorn and poor kicking for goal was again a problem for the black and white. Jarryd Blair, Darren Jolly and Leon Davis managed a couple of goals each while Dane Swan had 34 disposals along with Scott Pendlebury 24.

The Western Bulldogs were too good for Essendon with Jarrad Grant starring with 6 goals while Barry Hall nabbed 4 and Nathan Eagleton 3. Matthew Boyd got plenty of the ball with 33 touches as did Daniel Cross and Jarrod Harbrow with 31.

This Week

Collingwood In: Johnson, Brown, Didak Out: Fraser, Goldsack, McCarthy

Western Bulldogs In: Minson, Higgins, Wood, Johnson Out: Moles, Everitt, Roughead (shoulder), Jones

Recent History

Prior to this season the Western Bulldogs had no problem being competitive with Collingwood but in the two matches this season Collingwood has completely dominated the boys from the west. The ten point margin from their most recent match in Round 11 flatters the Bulldogs as the Pies blew them away early in the game and took their foot off the pedal.

Last 5 Rounds for & against

The Pies have taken their foot off the pedal in the last couple of rounds but they still match up pretty well against the Bulldogs. The Collingwood defence concedes just 71 points per game which means the Bulldogs are going to be very clinical going forward as the Pies are only allowing 42 inside 50s a match which shows just how hard the Bulldogs task is going to be.

Our Tip: Collingwood

The Western Bulldogs go into this match with major injury concerns and that’s not an ideal preparation for a Final but we don’t believe the Bulldogs would have got anywhere near the Pies anyway even with Cooney and Cross in the side. Griffin goes in under a cloud and captain Brad Johnson has been named but he is a shadow of his former great self.

Collingwood had a fairly tough draw this season and to finish on top of the table and having beaten every other side in the eight along the way is testament to their ability this year and they face the Bulldogs with players such as Goldsack and Medhurst emergencies which shows their depth.

We haven’t been impressed with the Bulldogs at all this season and they have way too many downhill skiers who don’t like it hard when up against the top three sides. They can beat sides easily that offer little resistance but when up against sides like Colllingwood, Geelong and St Kilda they are out of their depth.

Mick Malthouse must be doing cartwheels seeing Griffin and Johnson in the team and expect Collingwood to show the football world why they finished on top of the ladder and come away with a comfortable win.

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