‘Brutal situation’: Awkward double Dogs booking revealed after ‘most miserable sight’

The Western Bulldogs’ “brutal situation” ahead of the defining Suns-Bombers clash has been laid bare, with the club forced into an awkward Thursday double booking.

Despite a devastating loss to Fremantle on Sunday, the Bulldogs still aren’t officially out of this year’s AFL finals race. However to feature in September, a severely undermanned Essendon outfit must break a 12-game losing streak and upset Gold Coast at People First Stadium.

But the Suns will welcome back star duo Daniel Rioli and Bailey Humphrey for the clash, which they must win to secure a maiden finals berth.

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The game was initially scheduled to be played in Opening Round, but was postponed to the Wednesday after Round 24 due to the threat of Cyclone Alfred in March.

The wide outside chance of a Bombers victory, however, saw the Bulldogs have a light training session at Whitten Oval on Tuesday.

“Weird situation … and your response has got to be a little bit weird too,” Herald Sun reporter Glenn McFarlane told Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle.

The Bulldogs trained on Tuesday. Source: FOX SPORTS

“They had a 20-minute ‘flush out’ session. Not a lot of enthusiasm in it, but enough to just roll the legs over. They had a gym session after that, (but) no team meeting, discussions or anything like that.”

AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley said watching the Bulldogs train was the “most miserable sight you could imagine in a footy season”.

“The Western Bulldogs, who are condemned to a purgatory no team should ever have to live, were sent out onto the training track just in case Gold Coast take the gas tomorrow night,” Whateley said.

Australian Football Hall of Fame member and AFL 360 co-host Garry Lyon added: “The alternative would be sitting in a pub with an open fire just drowning your sorrows. That’s probably what they’d be staring at if we didn’t have this convoluted extra game.

Luke Beveridge of the Bulldogs. Source: FOX SPORTS

“These are rare and unique scenes – never, ever to be repeated … It doesn’t matter how strong-willed you are, your mind just goes to tomorrow night and you think ‘nup’.”

McFarlane reported the club had no formal gathering plans to watch the Suns-Bombers clash, but had plans in place for either a Gold Coast or Essendon win.

“They are not going to gather and congregate together. There’ll be a few guys watching here and there, but there’s nothing formal or official planned that they will do,” McFarlane said.

“They’ve got two bookings for Thursday: One is training – in the unlikely event Essendon beats Gold Coast – and then the other booking – which is the more likely case – is there’ll be exit interviews starting Thursday morning.

“It’s a brutal situation where you go from being a fluky chance of playing finals to the next day you’re telling players ‘you’re not going to be here’.”

Whatever the result, injury-plagued midfielder Adam Treloar will again play for Footscray’s VFL side this weekend in a bid to earn a new contract at the club.

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Treloar, 32, is out of contract at season’s end and his injury-riddled run has cast doubt over whether the Bulldogs will offer him an extension. He’s played just four senior games this season after sustaining a suite of soft-tissue setbacks.

He returned through the VFL last week for Footscray, collecting 40 disposals and a goal on limited minutes, but was overlooked for the Bulldogs’ do-or-die clash AFL with Fremantle.

“He desperately wants another deal with the Dogs. But six calf issues has got to put a seed of doubt in the Bulldogs’ mind,” McFarlane said.

“He wants to play (in the VFL). He made it very clear to the Dogs today that he wants to play.

“He’s very keen to get out there and show them he can get through, not only this week, but also to get through that finals campaign and hopefully win a new deal.”

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