The Bulldogs are ferocious around the contest. Despite sitting outside the top eight going into today’s match, the Dogs are ranked fourth for contested possessions and number one for tackles.

The Bombers will fancy their key forwards in the air against a Dogs defence missing some key players. But the Dons have to get the ball down there first and that means inside midfielders Jobe Watson, Brendon Goddard, David Myers, Dyson Heppell, Darcy Parish and Zach Merrett will have crucial roles to play.

Myers (16 contested possessions), Watson (14), Merrett (14), Parish (12) and Heppell (12) were able to win the ball at the coalface against North Melbourne last week and their ability to repeat that performance against the Bulldogs will go a long way to shaping the result.

And the man the Bombers need to stop…

Mitch Wallis is the Dogs best contested ball winner and is ranked 11^th in the competition. He has averaged 22 possessions per game this season and won 16 contested possessions against Gold Coast last week.