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AFL finals 2016: Bulldogs v Hawks guaranteed to be an intriguing clash

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On Friday night at the MCG we will see the apprentice (Luke Beveridge) bring his game to take on the master (Alastair Clarkson), with a spot in a preliminary final up for grabs.

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While the game plan that Beveridge employs with his Bulldogs seems to be the polar opposite of how Hawthorn play, when you look closer there are many similarities – as expected from his time under Clarkson at Waverley Park.

The irrepressible Dogs flew to Perth and dismantled West Coast last Thursday night in an enthralling display of inside domination and outside speed. We know they are supreme in the area of contested ball and they belted the Eagles by +23, as well as winning the clearance easily by +8, without a dominant ruckman.  

In dominating the "inside" game, Beveridge and his Dogs were able to take away West Coast's ability to get to the outside and start their kicking game. They reduced the Eagles' kick-to-handball ratio to almost 1:1 – a sign of the high pressure they applied around the contest.  

Once the Dogs won the ball, they spat it out to space and ran hard forward into vacant space.

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Hawthorn, on the other hand,  arguably played one of their best games for the year – and lost! Disregarding the last play of the night, after time had run out, Hawthorn were the better team in many facets and certainly had more than their share of momentum in the loss to Geelong.   

The Hawks are a poor contested ball team and were -52 against the Cats, but don't let that one statistic fool you – they are a very, very good pressure team. Through the use of defensive shape around stoppage and scrimmage, they often concede first possession to their opponents, but will get it back swiftly by arriving with timing and speed to either tackle or create a loose-ball spill.  

Last week against Geelong, they were +2 in tackle and +9 in inside 50s, via their outside kicking game, when the Cats could not find and/or defend them on turnover.

This game will be intriguing. Hawthorn will almost concede that the Bulldogs will be too good on the inside for them, but will know if they can pinch it back, they have the kicking game that might trouble the Dogs' zoning defenders if they sag off their men too far.  

It is one thing to "zone-defend" at Subiaco, but it's a different proposition on the wider expanses of the MCG.