Saturdays’s third AFL Round 7 match is between Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne Kangaroos. The opening bounce is set to commence at 4:40 PM local time with the game to be played at Etihad Stadium. The away team North Melbourne Kangaroos are the favourites for the match after having their first win of the season last week. View our preview and teams for the game between Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne Kangaroos.

Round: Round 7 4:40 PM May 11, 2013
Stadium: Etihad Stadium
Weather: 23° Sunny.

Featured Bookmakers:

Western Bulldogs $7.75 vs North Melbourne Kangaroos $1.08 at Sportsbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Western Bulldogs $8.50 vs North Melbourne Kangaroos $1.07 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison:

Western Bulldogs	7.75	8.00	8.50	8.00	7.75	7.75
North Melbourne Kangaroos	1.08	1.07	1.07	1.07	1.08	1.09

Preview:

Like their number one supporter Julia Gillard, the Western Bulldogs just can’t take a trick at the moment and appear to be in a world of trouble.

The Bulldogs one win came in the opening round against the struggling Brisbane Lions but in their five subsequent outings, haven’t been able to get closer than 21 points to their opponents and in three of these five matches, have lost by margins greater than 50.

Last week they were never in the hunt when taking on West Coast in WA and they won’t find things any easier this week against North.

The Kangas have only the two wins to their names but narrow – heart-breaking loses in some cases, against benchmark sides such as Geelong and Hawthorn, indicate that they should be sitting higher on the ladder than their current ranking of eleventh.

They proved that true last week by handing Port their first loss of the season but, after leading by as many as 33 points in the final quarter, were given a scare late with Port able to whittle that lead to 10 by the time the siren sounded.

North will need to be more ruthless than that if they are to compete with the top sides and they get the chance to exercise this quality against the Bulldogs. Expecting them to rack up the points and cover the line.

Teams:

Western Bulldogs:
B: Dale Morris, Jordan Roughead, Lukas Markovic
HB: Liam Picken, Tom Young, Jason Johannisen
C: Tom Liberatore, Matthew Boyd, Nick Lower
HF: Clay Smith, Liam Jones, Daniel Giansiracusa
F: Luke Dahlhaus, Robert Murphy, Dylan Addison
Foll: Will Minson, Adam Cooney, Ryan Griffen
Int: Jason Tutt, Mitch Wallis, Mark Austin, Daniel Cross
Emerg: Koby Stevens, Christian Howard, Tom Campbell

In: D.Giansiracusa , R.Murphy , R.Griffen , L.Markovic
Out: K.Stevens, C.Howard, J.Stringer (soreness), J.Macrae (soreness)

North Melbourne Kangaroos:
B: Scott McMahon, Scott Thompson, Jamie Macmillan
HB: Aaron Mullett, Michael Firrito, Brent Harvey
C: Daniel Wells, Shaun Atley, Ryan Bastinac
HF: Aaron Black, Majak Daw, Sam Wright
F: Lindsay Thomas, Drew Petrie, Leigh Adams
Fol: Todd Goldstein, Andrew Swallow, Jack Ziebell
Int: Ben Cunnington, Sam Gibson, Taylor Hine, Will Sierakowski
Emer: Brad McKenzie, Lachlan Hansen, Kieran Harper

In: B.Harvey
Out: N.Grima (soreness)

AFL’s Kangaroos considering Harvey as sub

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott predicts he will give Western Bulldogs counterpart Brendan McCartney a nightmare if he uses comeback AFL star Brent Harvey as a substitute.

The Kangaroos are seriously contemplating the option for the 34-year-old on Saturday night, after he sat out the opening six rounds through suspension.

Scott doesn’t doubt Harvey’s ability to run out a full game or have an instant impact, as he’s trained strongly and has a history of returning strongly from a lay-off.

But the North coach said the sub had become a key weapon and Harvey’s pace and skill could cause maximum damage.

“It would be a nightmare for the opposition coach,” Scott told reporters on Friday.

“If it were me in the opposition coach’s shoes I’d be worried about when he’s going to come on and what we do about it.”

Scott said Richmond’s Matt White had shown the potential effect of the substitute when he almost lifted the Tigers over the line against Fremantle in Perth in round five.

“When fatigue really sets in late in a game, to have a fresh player – we saw Matt White in the Richmond-Fremantle game come on and have a huge impact,” he said.

The clash with the 16th-placed Bulldogs is an ideal chance for North to improve on their 2-4 record, their defeats so far having come against the AFL’s four most recent premiership clubs – Sydney, Geelong, Collingwood and Hawthorn.

But Scott said the Roos rated the Bulldogs higher than their record indicated, given the midfield talent of the likes of Matthew Boyd, Ryan Griffen, Adam Cooney and Daniel Cross and the Dogs’ strength at winning clearances and contested ball.

Class trio Griffen, Robert Murphy and Daniel Giansiracusa are all back from injury.

“You look at their team on paper and I’m a little bit staggered that they don’t have a lot more wins,” Scott said.

The Kangaroos will have added motivation in milestones for defenders Michael Firrito (200 games) and Scott Thompson (100 games).

Scott said the pair epitomised the club with their never-say-die attitude and also in not earning the plaudits they deserved.

“People on the outside probably consider them great fighters and great battlers,” he said.

“The truth is they’re better than that.”