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AFL Daily: Get all the latest and breaking footy news for Friday, June 22, 2018
MARCUS Bontempelli is certain to captain the Western Bulldogs against North Melbourne. Meanwhile, Alex Rance isn’t happy and West Coast’s free kick luck continues. RE-CAP TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS
MARCUS Bontempelli is a certain starter for the injury-ravaged Western Bulldogs against North Melbourne on Saturday night.
Bontempelli sent a huge scare through the Dogs camp when he hurt his knee against Port Adelaide, but escaped with a hyperextension to play out the game. RE-CAP TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS IN THE BLOG BELOW The influential midfielder trained away from teammates on Friday, but Beveridge said he wasn’t on an injury list that has swelled to double digits. “He’ll definitely play. We won’t do much today, he’s got through all his work and I think we all got a bit of a shock when we saw him hyper-extend that knee over in Adelaide,” Beveridge said. LLOYD: BRING BACK THE GOALS TO WIN BACK FANS TEAMS: DOG MORRIS’ LATEST MIRACLE COMEBACK “There’s been all sorts of talk about blacks cats and ladders, but he’s fine and has recovered really well.” Veteran defender Dale Morris is one of four inclusions, with Aaron Naughton and Josh Dunkley, while Marcus Adams will play his first game of the year. Beveridge said Morris’ second comeback from a knee injury had been “astronomical”. “His reputation continues to grow as the iron man,” he said. “It’s a bit of a surprise, we thought he’d be another week. His physical preparation week to week is second to none.” Shane Biggs has been dropped again, joining injured trio Easton Wood (hamstring), Lukas Webb (thumb) and Jack Macrae (hamstring) on the sidelines. It is the third time Biggs, a 2016 premiership defender and out of contract at seasons end, has been dumped from the side. “‘Biggsy’ has got his challenges and there’s some specific things in his game that leave us a little bit vulnerable at times that he’s working on that didn’t necessarily come to the fore against Port Adelaide,” Beveridge said. “All we can do is try and support him, help him. We know what he is capable of, but unfortunately, he hasn’t been the player he has been for us historically.” While Biggs’ future is uncertain, Tory Dickson, Lin Jong, Clay Smith and Matt Suckling are also coming out of contract, while Jordan Roughead, Luke Dahlhaus, Tom Liberatore, Dale Morris and Mitch Wallis are all free agents. “All I want for our players, particularly our players who are free agents; I want them to get the best deal they can for themselves and continue to set themselves up for their future,” Beveridge said. “I’m not challenging them, I just want them to play well for themselves and I hope it’s with us. Time will tell if it is and some of those boys who aren’t in the team who are free agents, that doesn’t mean we love them any less and don’t want them to be Western Bulldogs players, it just means they’re not in the best 22 (right now). “I think one of the difficult things for our players has been that because we’ve had so many injuries, ultimately it effects individuals’ form when you just can’t get that continuity with teammates.” Watch every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. SIGN UP NOW >
Originally published as AFL Daily: Get all the latest and breaking footy news for Friday, June 22, 2018