Dan Lonergan
It's time for Brendan McCartney to decide what direction he wants the Bulldogs to go in.
In the split round 13, this wonderful AFL season was again turned on its head with a number of upsets. Those results included North Melbourne, after weeks of indifferent form, beating a top four contender in Adelaide to be one of five teams on six wins and only out of the eight on percentage.
Another shock result in some circles was Brisbane, which started the round in 15th spot, demolishing at the Docklands the disappointing Western Bulldogs, who were 13th. I tipped the Lions but I was in the minority, even though they were close to full-strength with the return of the great Simon Black and another veteran Ash McGrath. Not only that, they were also celebrating the club's inaugural Hall of Fame inductions that night.
The Dogs on the other hand had lost Will Minson to a club suspension, which meant the Lions' hard-bodied ruckman Ben Hudson - a former Dog himself - would have a decided advantage against the Bulldogs' greenhorn ruckmen Jordan Roughead, Ayce Cordy and debutant Tom Campbell.
I believed Brisbane had more outside midfielders and would be too fast for the Bulldogs, who rely too much on inside mids and have gone from being one of the fastest sides in the league to in my opinion, one of the slowest. So I couldn't understand why hardly anyone had picked the Lions and that their odds to win were well over $3.
More http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-2...?section=sport