Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge is relishing a return to Ballarat this weekend, ahead of Saturday’s Sir Doug Nicholls Round 10 match against the Crows.
“We’re looking forward to playing our first game in Ballarat – it’s a big game against the Crows who are going really well,” Beveridge told reporters on Tuesday morning.
“They beat us by one point in Ballarat last year, so we’ve got a strong reminder of what sort of game they can play.
“They were impressive last week against the Saints too, so we’ve got to stifle the speed at which they’re capable of and showed in Adelaide last week.
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“It might be different conditions this week though, so both teams will need to do it a bit differently in terms of moving the Sherrin.
“I would’ve thought it might be a bit more of a scrappy surge type of contested game at ground level, but we’ll wait and see.
“They’ve got some key playmakers that are good by foot, and their forwards don’t miss too often.
“It’ll be a big challenge for us.”
Beveridge looked forward to heading back to the Eureka town, admiring the relationship the Club has built with the Ballarat community over the last six years, while wanting to put on a good showing for the Ballarat faithful.
“We really enjoy it – we love going regionally through that Western corridor,” he said.
“Ballarat have been really great to us – they’ve really embraced us through the community, and even our community programs that run right through there. We do that with pride.
“We feel like we’ve got a growing supporter base through there as well.
“Over the years I think we’ve definitely won more than we’ve lost, so it’s important that we look forward to going up there and giving our best performances, which we’ll absolutely need to because the Crows are going well.”
General admission tickets to the Bulldogs-Crows clash are on sale now, with limited reserved seating available.