Port and Lions currently sitting second and fourth respectively on the ladder both with eight wins, along with West Augusta in third spot also with eight wins with only percentage separating the three teams.
The clash between the two local sides at Memorial Oval on Saturday will have big influence on the make up of the top two positions, with the winner having a great advantage to finish with a double chance at the end of the season.
Port and lions have played on three occasions this season, in round one the bulldogs took the honours by seventy two points, but on that night lions were unsettled and without many key players.
Lions have been too good for the bulldogs on the other two occasions, in round five lions kicked seven goals to the bulldogs one in the second term and went on to win by thirty nine points.
Again in round ten lions had a nine goal third term to the bulldogs four and from that point they controlled the game and ran out thirty one point victors, that being Ports only loss in their last seven games.
Both sides have good fire power up forward with Matt Gale who has now kicked fifty nine goals for the season, Greg Phillips was back in form kicking five goals against west while Brodie Mudge, Kieran Johanson and Simon Treloar can all be relied upon for a goal or two.
Lions also have the forward line to kick a winning score with Tyson Horsnell who has kicked a couple of bags recently, having kicked thirty seven for the season and Tate Bradley who kicked four the last time these teams met and kicked five against west last weekend, having kicked thirty one so far this year.
Not forgetting other goal kickers in Tom Harmer, Elijah Ware and Chuck Sawyer who gives a good target up forward and has been a regular in lion’s best players this season.
The bulldog defence led by Ben Luitera and Chris Stephens who kept centrals Ryan Morris goal less last week have been in good form in recent weeks, Stephens who did not play against lions in round ten will get the job on Tate Bradley and this match up will be beauty.
The bulldog on ball players have been combining well over recent weeks with Michael Burford working well in ruck with Norm Wombat, Jess Penny, Kieran Johanson plus this inclusion of Andrew Fleming has given the bulldogs a bit of extra bite around the packs.
The last two times these sides played lions won the centre clearances, plus the pace of lions worried the bulldogs with Dan Seiber who has missed some footy in recent weeks being best on ground in round ten and he along with Elijah Ware, Dean Steele and Clinton O’Connor another player having a good season have the speed and ability to run teams off their legs if let run loose.
Port has in recent weeks been without classy centre man Tom Clarke and nuggetty back pocket player Aaron Casey and both these players could be available for Saturdays match and will be valuable to the green and whites.
Chris Marsland is a key player for lions but from information given, he pulled a hamstring last week against west and could miss the next four games, if this is the case the lions will miss his toughness at the ball all around the ground.
This match will be a beauty with the bulldogs determined not to lose to lions three times in a row and loose second spot while the lions will be out to show that they are a real force in 2009.
I select the bulldogs to win by 18 points.
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