Sport
11 September, 2026
Dogs chasing double glory
PRELIMS: Centrals versus Cutters in women’s and they take on Crocs in men’s.
Women’s – Bulldogs versus Cutters
THE penultimate weekend of the season bounces with the second women’s preliminary final, as the Dogs play the Cutters.
Each team is coming into this fixture on the opposite ends of a thrashing, as the Dogs easily handled the Crocs, while the Cutters went down to the all-conquering Tigers.
A different bounce-off time, in the heat at 12.45pm at Cazalys, will present a different challenge to the teams as they look to book their place in the decider.
A win for the Dogs will mean that they get the chance to avenge both of last year’s finals losses to the Tigers.
The Cutters, meanwhile, are looking to make it to their first ever decider and this is why they worked so hard to secure the double chance.
The Dogs won the season fixtures 2-1, including a 67-point thrashing a month ago.
That, and their finals experience, have them favoured.
The Cutters might do well to lean into the underdog, sorry for the pun, status and embrace the freedom that comes with that tag, rather than be shackled by the pressure of a preliminary final.
Bulldogs come into the fixture confident in their recent form – they have two thumping wins in their last three games.
They have also been comfortably better than the Crocs in their three home-and-away fixtures this year, but then again, they were last year too, and that ended up accounting for nothing once finals rolled around.
Men’s – Bulldogs versus Crocs
ON the men’s side, we have a rematch of last year’s first preliminary final after two absolute stone-cold thrillers over the weekend.
A skipper’s goal if ever there was one by Dom Booth with two minutes to go sees him lead the Dogs in a prelim once more against the once-fancied Crocs.
That goal had to come after the Dogs gave up a 28-point lead at the final change. Even with the concerns the Crocs have that we are about to discuss, you cannot get away with that too often in finals footy, and it will be a major focus this week at the Kennel.
For the Crocs, a heartbreaking loss, as they went down by just three points to the Cutters after leading much of the final term, but could not quite find the goals after kicking 1.5.
That means the Crocs have lost four straight finals since their 2023 premiership, kicking a combined 24.51.
You imagine the Crocs will have to kick straight to avoid the ignominy of being minor premiers knocked out in straight sets in consecutive seasons.
However, the Crocs only kicked more goals than behinds in one of the three fixtures against the Dogs this year as they won each of those games handedly.
The Crocs will believe that their best is still the best in the competition and rightly so. First step, a clean sweep of four 2026 victories, and getting one back on the Dogs for last year.
Should be an absolute humdinger, bouncing off at Cazalys at 5pm.
