Bulldogs will take confidence from win over GWS but Giant reinforcements are coming

The Western Bulldogs are the AFL’s in-form team and are fresh from demolishing the Giants on their own patch. But as the Bulldogs try to repeat their 2016 fairytale, does that count for anything? BURNING QUESTIONS

Marcus Bontempelli is in red-hot form. Picture. Phil Hillyard

The Western Bulldogs are the AFL’s in-form team and head to western Sydney just weeks after demolishing the Giants on their own patch.

Can Leon Cameron get his Ferrari revving again or are we about to see the Bulldogs repeat their 2016 fairytale?

ON THE EVE OF THE AFL FINALS DON’T MISS YOUR COLLINGWOOD TEAM POSTER IN THE SUNDAY HERALD SUN

LISTEN BELOW: GREATS RECAP THE EPIC 1989 GRAND FINAL

Herald Sun footy expert Sam Edmund takes a look at the burning questions for both teams ahead of Saturday afternoon’s elimination final.

Stream every match of the 2019 Toyota AFL Finals Series before the Grand Final Live & On-Demand on KAYO SPORTS. Get your 14-day free trial and start streaming >

Bulldog Sam Lloyd got in the face of Heath Shaw in the Dogs’ recent win. Pic: Phil Hillyard

GIANTS

1 THE STEPHEN CONIGLIO FACTOR

No, he’s not playing. But while Coniglio continues to rehab that knee injury on the sidelines, his signature will have had a profound effect on his teammates.

The boost that would have given them would be huge given the season-long scrutiny on the club and the weight everyone has had to carry with weekly questions from the media and so forth.

A weight has been lifted in that sense. But the extent of any feel-good vibe is impossible to measure. It also can’t be counted on to guarantee you a win.

2 WHAT ABOUT LAST TIME?

The Giants were destroyed by the Dogs by 10 goals and it came on this very ground and it came only a fortnight ago. But tellingly, it also came with a heap of Giants watching from the stands.

So how much credence should we give it? Stuff-all.

Certainly the Bulldogs, for their part, have been reluctant to talk up their chances based on anything from that game. Sure, they’ll take confidence from it and also, for those who played in it, that magical 2016 preliminary final win.

Not many Victorian teams have fond memories of interstate venues, but the Dogs are one.

Yet, the reinforcements are coming for the Giants and they’re big.

Key forwards and leading goalkickers Jeremy Cameron and Jeremy Finlayson didn’t play in that Round 22 thrashing. They’ve kicked 104 goals between them this year.

Jacob Hopper has won the second-most disposals at the club and will also return.

While the big dog, Shane Mumford, was also absent and will relish trying to intimidate a young Tim English.

Nick Haynes could also come up.

3 THE CROWD

One of the key talking points of that memorable 2016 preliminary final was the make-up of the crowd. It was a talking point because it was a Western Bulldogs home game in Sydney. The Dogs fans travelled and what Giants fans there were back then were drowned out at their own stadium.

Word is another fleet of buses will be loaded up for the trip north, but the Giants also have twice as many members as they did three years ago.

Will be interesting to see who holds sway in the 25,000-seat venue.

BULLDOGS

1 THE MORRIS FACTOR

If there’s a chance the Giants will be fuelled by Coniglio’s commitment, the Bulldogs might have own little layer of extra motivation after club warhorse Dale Morris announced his retirement.

Coach Luke Beveridge was unsure if he could use it as a motivating tool, but it’s the closest the Dogs have to replicating the feel-good vibe Coniglio’s re-signing has had on the Giants.

“You’d imagine they’d come with some venom, it’s a final. We’ve got to produce an antidote and an even more deadly venom coming out of our quarters,” Beveridge said.

2 MOMENTUM

The footy world is well aware of what sort of damage an underrated Bulldogs side can do with momentum behind it.

Like 2016, they are coming in hot, having won eight of 11 since the bye and at 116 points per game over the last four rounds, they are the No. 1 scoring team in the comp.

They’ve discovered a winning formula, with a ball-hungry midfield feeding a suddenly dangerous forward line and the “connection” Beveridge so often talks about is seamless at the moment.

“We’re not limping into this finals series, we’re going in with a head of steam with a brand of footy and probably a new identity so to speak,” Beveridge said.

“I think we’re going to be hard to beat.”

3 THE MIDFIELD

The emergence of Josh Dunkley has taken this group to the next level.

Jack Macrae, Dunkley, Marcus Bontempelli and Lachie Hunter occupy four of the top 18 disposal winners in the AFL this year.

It’s been a red, white and blue tsunami in the midfield in the second half of the season as this quartet overwhelmed their rivals.

Newly-re-signed Giants tagger Matt De Boer went to Bontempelli in Round 22, but could do nothing to quell his influence. Does Leon Cameron stick to the script here?

The engine room battle will be immense when you consider Hopper will be back to compliment Josh Kelly and Tim Taranto for GWS.

Originally published as Bulldogs will take confidence from win over GWS but Giant reinforcements are coming