FORM GUIDE
The Brisbane Lions produced one of their best performances of the season last Saturday night at the Gabba to overcome Carlton by seven points and secure their second win of 2014.

The Lions had skipped out to a commanding lead at quarter time but it was all Carlton for the next two quarters as the game developed into an arm wrestle. Late into the fourth quarter the Blues lead by 16, but the Lions showed excellent resilience and rallied to kick the final four goals of the match to get the win.

Earlier last week Senior Coach Justin Leppitsch stated that the Lions have the opportunity to get some wins against teams in their region of the ladder and the players backed this assertion and beat the Blues straight up.

This was the Lions first win in Australia this year after beating St. Kilda on ANZAC Day in Wellington, New Zealand.

The Lions now have a 2-8 record and an opportunity to jump off the bottom of the ladder as soon as this weekend.

The Bulldogs started their season impressively notching some early wins but they have found the going tough in recent times. They have only won once in their past six matches and were beaten last Sunday by Fremantle at Etihad Stadium.

The Bulldogs forward structure has not been settled or effective so far in 2014 and despite having 26 more inside 50’s than the Dockers they still lost by more than six goals.

The Bulldogs find themselves 14^th with a 3-7 record.

TEAM SELECTION
The Lions Match Committee has made two changes to the starting line-up from last Saturday’s win over the Blues.

Trent West goes out of the team with ACL injury, which will require a full knee reconstruction. West had been performing really well in the absence of Matthew Leuenberger and it is yet another huge loss for the Lions.

Coming in for West is Stefan Martin. Martin himself has had a torrid time with injury since joining the Club and hopefully he can have an injury free run in the senior side throughout the remainder of 2014.

Rohan Bewick has also been recalled to the senior side in place of Jackson Paine after displaying good form in the NEAFL.

The Western Bulldogs have omitted Fletcher Roberts and Jarrad Grant comes back into the senior side.

KEY MATCH-UPS
Starting in the Lions’ defensive half, the key Bulldogs to keep quiet are Tom Williams and Stewart Crameri. There is every chance that Joel Patfull and Matt Maguire respectively will go to those players.

Williams was a match winner in an earlier game against Melbourne when he kicked three crucial goals in a tight win for the Bulldogs, and will most likely have Maguire following him around for the evening.

Crameri moved to the Bulldogs during the off-season on a big money move and is under pressure to be the main man for the Bulldogs. Crameri is not only strong in marking contests, but can also cover the ground and has speed to burn. For this reason, Patfull – who put in one of his best performances of the season in last week’s win against Carlton – is probably the man for Crameri.

Luke Dahlhaus is a cult figure down at Whitten Oval and brings enormous energy, effort and forward line pressure to the forward line and there is a good chance that Ryan Harwood or Mitch Golby will be given the job on Dahlhaus.

In the midfield the Bulldogs will be backing themselves in the ruck duel with big Will Minson to face a returning Stefan Martin. Minson has been a rock for the Bulldogs in the centre of the ground and Martin will have his hands full as the evening progresses. Martin will more than likely be supported by Daniel Merrett in a pinch-hitting role when he is not playing forward.

Ryan Griffen is the key Bulldog midfielder and when he fires the Bulldogs always stand a good chance of winning. Tom Liberatore and Adam Cooney will support Griffen in the middle and they will be up against Lions ball magnets Tom Rockliff, Jack Redden and Pearce Hanley.

We could see a fascinating contest on one of the wings with Claye Beams lined up against Bulldogs first year prospect Marcus Bontempelli. Beams played well last week against Carlton kicking a clutch goal in the fourth quarter and will be looking to continue to put forward another strong performance on Saturday. Bontempelli is a first year player that the Bulldogs have big hopes for in the future and will look to use his deceptive height advantage – he’s 10cm taller than Beams – when getting forward.

The Lions are going with an experienced two-pronged forward set up with Jonathan Brown and Daniel Merrett who will be opposed by Dale Morris and Jordan Roughead. Their contests will be crucial to a Lions victory and Brown and Merrett will again have a squad of fleet footed midfielders at the drop of the ball in Josh Green, Lewis Taylor and Dayne Zorko.

Zorko in particular put in a superb performance against the Blues last Saturday showing terrific speed, energy, verve and classy ball use in picking up 23 disposals and kicking two goals. He will once again be a key to the Lions putting in a winning performance.

RECENT HISTORY
The Lions have won three of their past five clashes against the Western Bulldogs.

Their last meeting at Etihad Stadium was in Round One last year and the Bulldogs surprised the Lions with a 68-point thrashing just weeks after the Lions had lifted the NAB Cup trophy after a win over….. Carlton!

Lions midfielder Jack Redden has said that he believes that this contest will be won in the midfield and this is an astute observation.

Currently the Lions are ranked 18^th in the competition for contested possession averaging 122.8 per game, while the Bulldogs are ranked 11^th averaging 137.1 per game.

In addition to winning the contested football the respective teams need to get the ball inside the attacking 50 to kick winning scores. Currently the Lions are ranked 18^th in the competition for inside 50’s averaging 42.7 per game, while the Bulldogs are ranked 13^th averaging 47.6.

These key statistical category differences can be overcome by the Lions if they bring the intensity, effort and gut running performance that they displayed to the Gabba faithful last Saturday evening.

HOUSE OF HORRORS
Etihad Stadium has not been a happy hunting ground for the Lions in recent times.

They have lost nine of their past eleven clashes at Etihad with an average losing margin at the venue of 58 points.

An interesting fact between these teams is that in the past five meetings only the Lions have managed to win away from home, beating the Bulldogs by 58 points at Etihad Stadium in Round 13 in 2012.

The Lions would love to repeat that effort this coming Saturday night.

LIONS RESERVES
Last weekend the Lions Reserves travelled to the Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex at Burpengary last weekend to take on the Gold Cost Suns reserves and put the Suns to the sword.

It was a commanding 61-point win to the Lions with Rohan Bewick the stand-out player for the Lions in the midfield with 32 disposals and was well supported by Nick Robertson, Tom Cutler and Brent Moloney.

This week the Lions face Redland Bombers at Giffin Park on Saturday afternoon at 1:30pm and will be looking to go back-to-back and begin their charge towards the top six.