If it is TRUE that things are...

[Bulldog Joe]

I don't think we've peaked yet. It was only 2 weeks ago we were 27 points down to Carlton in the 3rd quarter a week after letting Richmond have their way with us for 1.5 quarters.

This is not a negative, but we were allowed to do whatever we liked on the weekend the saints were that bad with their efforts. I think we actually have plenty of improvement left in us which is a scary prospect for 17 other teams.

I really think we have improvement to come. The addition of Weightman has been a positive and Sweet will continue to improve.

The biggest problem is fitting in the players returning from injury.

Footscray is going to win a flag.

[comrade]

We’ve used 36 players already, so haven’t had a settled combo all year. I hope we can continue to bank wins while we find cohesion and stability and hit the finals with as close to our best 22 as possible.

[westdog54]

I'm genuinely excited for Friday night, even more so if English is fit.

The only area where we can't match them is in the ruck, and we were able to weather that storm against West Coast, I'm confident we can do it again.

A four pronged attack of Bruce, Naughton, English and Weightman will be a match-up nightmare even for Melbourne's formidable defence.

I'm predicting that we'll win in a shootout. There have only been two games so far where both teams have scored 100+. I'd be stunned if it didn't happen again on Friday night.

[Mantis]

We’ve used 36 players already, so haven’t had a settled combo all year. I hope we can continue to bank wins while we find cohesion and stability and hit the finals with as close to our best 22 as possible.

Given the lack of continuity I’m not sure we know what our best 22 might look like yet, but given our depth, and assuming have a reasonably healthy list we probably have 30-35 players who would have claims to being in our best team which puts us in a strong position.

What I’m liking is we know what our best footy looks like and the role that each player has which allows that to happen... still a few things to iron out, but as I and others have mentioned when we click there isn’t a team who can go with us.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I'm genuinely excited for Friday night, even more so if English is fit.

The only area where we can't match them is in the ruck, and we were able to weather that storm against West Coast, I'm confident we can do it again.

A four pronged attack of Bruce, Naughton, English and Weightman will be a match-up nightmare even for Melbourne's formidable defence.

I'm predicting that we'll win in a shootout. There have only been two games so far where both teams have scored 100+. I'd be stunned if it didn't happen again on Friday night.

Yep. If we can avoid long bombs most of the night we'll nullify Lever and May. We just need to ensure we don't all go for the same ball.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

As much as I want to win on Friday night, considering our injury list i think it's a bit of a free hit at the Demons.

Treloar, English (might play), Martin, Wood, Dunkley, Gardner (might play), Vandermeer, McLean on the sidelines as possible ins for later in the year.

[westdog54]

Yep. If we can avoid long bombs most of the night we'll nullify Lever and May. We just need to ensure we don't all go for the same ball.

Watching Saturday night made me appreciate just how clever Naughton and Weightman are with their leading patterns.

Their defence is beatable with the right approach.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Watching Saturday night made me appreciate just how clever Naughton and Weightman are with their leading patterns.

Their defence is beatable with the right approach.

The great thing with Cody is that defences have to respect his leads. He's not a small forward who can only crumb. He's excellent on the lead and overhead so it's just another opportunity to draw defenders away from our big guys.

[Bulldog4life]

There is no stress in it for me. We are playing good football and if Melbourne beat us we have another game against them a few weeks later.

Looking forward to us on the big stage.

Interesting about playing Melbourne twice in a short time. One at Marvel and one at the MCG. Brad Johnson said we are a 6 goals better team at Marvel. Time will tell. I think we will win both by the way.

[bornadog]

Yep. If we can avoid long bombs most of the night we'll nullify Lever and May. We just need to ensure we don't all go for the same ball.

We are the number one ranked team for marks inside 50, so I am confident that will continue.

[Mofra]

Yep. If we can avoid long bombs most of the night we'll nullify Lever and May. We just need to ensure we don't all go for the same ball.

We would watching the reply of last week's game closely. Hard leading and shallow entries nullified Lever and May to an extent.

Salem comes in which is huge for them so we'll have to get JJ to just sit on him.

[MrMahatma]

We would watching the reply of last week's game closely. Hard leading and shallow entries nullified Lever and May to an extent.

Salem comes in which is huge for them so we'll have to get JJ to just sit on him.

Thought our marks on the lead were great last week too. We have the weapons and the system to beat their defence for sure, just need to not panic kick.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

We've been good at spotting up players on the lead nearly all season. It's been a huge turnaround from years prior. We did start to lose it a bit against the tigers' pressure though so we'll need to be switched on against a very good melbourne outfit.

[KT31]

Rising injury toll is a bit stressful at the moment, another decent caliber player may stretch our depth.
Covid and another Hub scenario are unlikely but could still be a reality.
This would give the interstate sides home ground advantage again and possibly derail our season.