1. Young Talent Time
On October 1 last year, Patrick Lipinski was just another Bulldogs fan in the stands at the MCG. Fast forward 12 months and this time he’s on the other side of the fence as the 1000th player to pull on the red, white and blue. Imagine that.
Lipinski hails from Bontempelli country (Eltham), which has got to be a good thing, and arrived at the kennel as the 28th pick in the 2016 NAB AFL Draft.
The 19-year-old fractured his collarbone early this season but burst back into calculations with some strong performances at VFL level, including a 33 touch outing last weekend against the Bombers.
Go well, Patty.
2. Bob and Keith
602 games between them, a long list of achievements and an unmeasurable amount of admiration and respect. Where do you start?
Whether or not the Dogs scrape into the finals, the opportunity shouldn’t be lost this Friday night to pay our respects to these two giants of the club.
So whether you’re coming to the game, watching it at home in the suburbs or listening on the radio in a far flung corner of Oz, we’re sure you’ll dip your lid in your own way.
Thanks for everything boys, it won’t be the same without you.
3. BIG returns
Ruckman and key member of the Big Eating Club Tom Campbell makes his return to the side on Friday night after an abdominal strain has kept him sidelined since Round 15.
The big man has shown at various points this season what he’s capable of when he gets a decent run at it, see performances against Sydney (14 disposals, 33 hitouts, six tackles), North Melbourne (49 hitouts, six tackles and a goal), and West Coast (47 hitouts, five tackles, nine disposals) as cases in point.
18 touches, 35 hitouts and a goal in the VFL last week sees him get his chance against the Hawks, so hopefully this is the springboard he’s been looking for.
4. We don’t like Hawthorn, but…
Before last season’s Semi Final win over Hawthorn, we hadn’t beaten the Hawks in eight straight attempts, which probably explains the dislike for the Hawks in the outer.
In fact, the last time we did it was 2010 and Matthew Boyd led the way with 35 touches and Barry Hall kicked six. Keith, in one of his many purple patches had an extraordinary run of 35, 26, 35, 37 touches over the next four outings against the brown and gold.
We’ve mentioned above that this could be the last time we see Boydy (and Bob) in the red, white and blue and of course we want to give them a proper send off, but they’re not the only greats to have recently called time on long and distinguished careers.
So from the Western Bulldogs Football Club, let us say well done and congratulations to Luke Hodge and Josh Gibson.
