A GUIDE TO THE AFL ELIMINATION FINAL BETWEEN ST KILDA AND THE WESTERN BULLDOGS
When: Saturday, 4.40pm AEST
Where: The Gabba
* The form
St Kilda (sixth, 10 wins, seven losses). A 52-point thumping of Greater Western Sydney secured the Saints’ finals spot after they had flirted with disaster, losing four of their previous six games.
Western Bulldogs (seventh, 10 wins, seven losses). Improved their scoring output to win five of their last six matches and charge into the finals with a head full of steam.
* Head-to-head
Overall: St Kilda 83 wins Western Bulldogs 76 wins 3 draws
In Finals: St Kilda 2 wins Western Bulldogs 2 wins
Last time: Round 2, 2020: St Kilda 14.4 (88) bt Western Bulldogs 7.7 (49) at Marvel Stadium
* The coaches
Brett Ratten has delivered the goods in his first full season at the helm, guiding St Kilda into their first finals series since 2011. The former Carlton coach had a 1-3 finals record at the Blues.
Luke Beveridge has had to reinvent his team since the 2016 premiership and will be hoping for a better performance than he got in last year’s disappointing elimination final defeat to GWS.
* The key duels
Tim English (Western Bulldogs) v Paddy Ryder and Rowan Marshall (St Kilda)
The Saints duo worked English over in their previous meeting, winning a combined 49 hit-outs to the young Bulldog’s 10 in a convincing 39-point victory. English will again be his team’s sole ruckman and will need to be more competitive if he is to give the Bulldogs’ fleet of midfielders a better chance of winning the clearance battle.
Jarryn Geary (St Kilda) v Jason Johannisen (Western Bulldogs)
Geary played as a defensive forward on Johannisen the last time the teams met and played an important role in limiting the dashing playmaker to 14 disposals. Johannisen was quiet again in his last outing, against Fremantle in round 18, when Mitch Crowden locked down on him in the second half. Expect the Saints to go with the same tactic this time, though Geary could also focus his attention on silky-skilled Caleb Daniel.
Jack Steele (St Kilda) v Jack Macrae (Western Bulldogs)
Despite being named on the wing in the All-Australian team, Macrae will again do most of his work on the inside in the elimination final. He is the Dogs’ most prolific contested ball winner this season and the battle with much-improved Saints onballer Steele will go a long way towards determining the midfield battle.
* The stats
St Kilda have not won a finals match since beating the Western Bulldogs in a preliminary final a decade ago. It was the second of their two preliminary final wins over the Bulldogs in consecutive seasons. But it didn’t end well – the Saints drew with Collingwood in the 2010 season decider and lost the replay, starting a drought that continues to this day.
* The tip
Western Bulldogs by 10 points.
