Preview: Western Bulldogs v St Kilda
WHERE & WHEN: Etihad Stadium, Saturday 20 March, 7.10pm (AEDT)
MATCH ODDS:
Luxbet: Bulldogs $1.97, Saints $1.83
FORM: Both teams could consider themselves lucky to have reached the NAB Cup decider given the Saints won each of their first two matches - against Collingwood and Sydney - by just a point although they were awesome in destroying Fremantle by 70 points in last week's semi-final. And equally the Bulldogs have also survived two close calls to reach their first senior grand final since 1970. In the first round they were forced to come from behind to narrowly defeat Brisbane in atrocious conditions in Canberra while last week they only scraped home by a kick in the semis against Port Adelaide thanks to a late goal from full-back Brian Lake.
WALKING WOUNDED: The Dogs and Saints will be close to full strength for the pre-season grand final with skipper Nick Riewoldt and star defender Brendon Goddard to return for the Saints after being rested last week while No.1 ruckman Ben Hudson and star forward Daniel Giansiracusa are likewise expected to return for the Bulldogs. However both teams still have one significant out with Bulldogs skipper Brad Johnson (Achilles) and former Saints skipper Lenny Hayes (corked calf) to miss due to injury. For Johnson in particular it is a bitter blow considering the Dogs have not played in a grand final for 40 years and he is the club's games record holder having played 349 matches over the past 16 seasons.
WHO'S HOT: Barry Hall has been sensational throughout the pre-season and already many believe the decision to punt on the former St Kilda and Sydney bad boy has been one of the best decisions the Western Bulldogs have ever made. After destroying Hawthorn in the quarter-finals, Hall was even better against Port Adelaide in last week's semis booting four goals and having a hand in the winning goal when he took a towering mark before handing off to Lake for the decisive goal of the game in the dying stages. For the Saints, the underrated Clinton Jones looks ready to improve even further on his breakthrough 2009. Jones, who is coming off a career best season last year when he finished sixth in the Saints' best and fairest, gathered 40 possessions during last week's semi-final rout of Fremantle.
WE THINK: What a fascinating contest this should be between the two teams considered most likely to challenge Geelong's supremacy this season but also the two teams that historically have been the least successful meaning a rare chance to grab some silverware beckons for one of them. Both have won just one flag with the Saints' drought stretching back to 1966 and the Dogs' to 1954 but both have come close in recent years with the Saints' runners-up last season while the Dogs have lost the past two preliminary finals. Incredibly this is the Dogs' first grand final of any kind since 1970 in the old night series while the Saints are aiming for their third success in this competition in seven years. Unfortunately the Dogs will be without their veteran captain Brad Johnson, who - like the similarly long-serving Robert Flower with Melbourne in 1987 - could miss out on his side's first taste of premiership glory in the modern era. The key for the Dogs will be whether they can find a way past a Saints defence that coughed up just 32 goals in four matches against Rodney Eade's team last year in winning all four encounters. But with Hall now as their spearhead, the Dogs attack is now much more potent and given they can certainly match the Saints in the other facets of the game they might just have enough firepower this time around to avenge last year's narrow preliminary final loss to the Saints. Western Bulldogs by 12 points.