St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs meet on Thursday night in a crucial contest that will continue to shape the trajectories of their seasons.
The Saints (2-3, 102.5%) are rebounding from a narrow loss to GWS and have brought back Zak Jones in place of injured spearhead Max King.
The Bulldogs (2-3, 111.6%), meantime, will be looking for a better performance all around after slumping to Essendon, having faced enormous external pressure this week.
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The Dogs lose star forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (personal) and Tom Liberatore (concussion), while they omitted Oskar Baker. In come Rory Lobb, Riley Garcia and James Harmes.
“This is a massive game,” 287-game St Kilda great Leigh Montagna told Fox Footy’s Give Me Something.
“I’m looking at the two skippers, who are in some sort of scintillating form.”
Dogs superstar Marcus Bontempelli is currently the third-highest rated player in the game at the moment, while Saint Jack Steele sits sixth in player ratings.
“I think these two, the two captains, will go toe-to-toe — not necessarily play head-to-head, but they’ll both be dominant,” Montagna continued.
“They’ll both be the two best players on the field, because they know what’s at stake for the loser. These two will be in the best five best players on the ground (on Thursday).
“They understand the significance of this game. The loser goes 2-4, and there will be all sorts of pressure on them come Monday, and they’ve both got tough games to follow on the road against strong opposition.
“There is plenty at stake and these two skippers will have to play their best football to try and drag their team over the line. One will do it, and one is going to fall short and leave their team in a bit of a tricky spot.”
Saints-Dogs gets underway at 7:30pm AEST from Marvel Stadium.
Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504).
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