Former Bulldogs players Luke Darcy (left) and Matthew Croft (right) look on as sons Sam Darcy and Jordan Croft sing the team song after the the Western Bulldogs’ win over West Coast at Marvel Stadium in round 23, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

THE WESTERN Bulldogs have seven days until their biggest game of the season when they host Fremantle at Marvel Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

It will be a season-defining blockbuster for the two clubs who currently sit in seventh and eighth place on the ladder.

For the Dogs it’s simple – win and you’re in.

Currently they sit behind the Dockers, but should they win next week they will draw equal on points and their higher percentage will place them above the Western Australian’s. 

BULLDOGS v EAGLES Full match coverage and stats

Beveridge was asked about the huge contest following his side’s 94-point win over West Coast on Sunday.

“It’s a bit like last year,” Beveridge said.

“We had to beat the Giants to get in, in Ballarat, and so this one’s a bit different. It’s against Fremantle here at Marvel.

“Hopefully we can get a parochial crowd to our game here next Sunday. Sort of like the one we experience when we go to WA and play at Optus. For both clubs it’s a big day.”

Fremantle will come into the season-defining clash off the back of a 57-point loss to Brisbane on Friday night at Optus Stadium. Beveridge was asked what he had taken away from the Dockers loss that he could potentially apply next weekend.

“I think Brisbane do it better than anyone with their transition through the kicking game out of their back 50. It was noticeable that they had a high amount of uncontested marks in that first quarter over there,” he said.

“Now, you don’t plan that as your one wood because you want to get your own territory. You’d like to get the first centre clearance and you want to play it in your half.

“But ultimately, as you saw tonight, we’ve been reasonably good. I think we were number one or two on rebound from D50 to forward 50 and even in scoring we were pretty close to the best during the last part of the year.”

Beveridge was pleased with his side’s performance against the Eagles, particularly how his team shared the load in front of goal. The Dogs had seven players who kicked two goals or more, including father-son debutant Jordan Croft.

“(Croft) did really well, didn’t he? Three contested marks inside that 50 area. He competed well … He can really run and so he’ll challenge the opposition on different fronts,” Beveridge said.

Croft made it four father-sons playing in the match against West Coast, joining Tom Liberatore, Sam Darcy and Rhylee West. Beveridge was asked his views on the rule given the Dogs have been so fortunate in using it to secure talent.

“Family in footy, it’s something special. I mean, look, it doesn’t matter what I say because people say, well, you’re going to say that because you’ve got these father-sons who’ve come through and have either been great contributors, premiership players,” he said.

“But ultimately those clubs still need to make a decision on whether they take those players or they go to the other players in the draft order. So it’s not an easy thing when you’re dealing with romance or being clinical.

“It’s hard to tell a family whose sons are available under the rule that you’re not going to take them. So there’s no doubt that sometimes there may be better rated players in the draft in the academies and the father-sons, and that’s something we need to remember as well.”

West Coast coach Andrew McQualter was disappointed with his side’s performance on Sunday, the difference between their 94-point loss compared to their nine point loss to Adelaide the previous week highlighting the gap between their best and their worst.

“It’s the biggest challenge we’ve got at the moment. We’ve spoken about it a few times this year,” McQualter said.

“It was an interesting game today. We just couldn’t quite stop any of their scoring. And we clearly couldn’t score. Pretty big parts of footy. It was disappointing. 

“You sort of look at the game and our pressure rating, which we chased today. It was actually a decent number today, quite high, but they were just so good at getting out and then once they got out of that first phase of defence, they just punished us.”

The Eagles have only registered one win in 2025, a 28-point win in round 10 against St Kilda. They have now lost 12 in a row and face Sydney next week in the final round of the year.

“We’ve got one more game for this season, but it’s not the end. We just want to keep improving and learning the way we want to play,” McQualter said.

“I just spoke to the players about it then … The players are really keen to play our last game in the right way and keep building on what we’ve tried to do this year.

“Hopefully that gets us a win. That’s what we’re chasing.”