Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs have met 43 times. The Bulldogs hold the overall advantage, 23 – 20.
The last time either side won consecutive matches in this match-up was in 2012-13 when the Crows recorded two straight victories over the Bulldogs.
The most recent clash between the two teams, Round 16, 2017, saw Adelaide come away with a 59-point victory on the back of a seven-goal third term. It was the first time the Bulldogs had travelled to Adelaide Oval to play the Crows.
On that night, captain Taylor Walker got the three Brownlow Medal votes finishing with three goals and 13 contested possessions. Fellow forward Josh Jenkins bagged four majors to get two votes.
Jenkins has a good record against the Dogs, having kicked 12 goals across the two most recent encounters.
Adelaide currently sits fourth on the AFL ladder with five wins and a percentage of 120.7, while the Bulldogs take up 13th spot with a percentage of 82.9. The Dogs have won their last three games; against Brisbane, Gold Coast and Carlton.
On Friday night, Eddie Betts will become the 42nd player in VFL/AFL history to play 100 games with two Clubs. Betts has kicked 252 goals in his 99 games for the Crows since crossing from Carlton. He kicked 290 from 184 games with the Blues.
The Crows have been fast starters in 2018 having scored the equal-most first quarter points (209) of any team.
Bulldogs midfielder Jack Macrae has hit a rich vein of form. Macrae has put together back-to-back 40+ possession games in the past fortnight, the first time he has achieved this in his career.
Macrae is third for overall disposals this season (271), just three behind leader, Crow Rory Laird. Macrae is also third in the League for unique score involvements (64).
Laird now holds the record for most disposals after the first eight rounds of any AFL Season (274).
The Western Bulldogs are 18th in the AFL for hit-outs (187), 233 behind leaders Melbourne.
The Dogs are also ranked 18th for scores launched from their defensive 50m (94), and average metres gained per disposal (14.1). They sit third for total handballs in 2018 (1402) and third for effective handballs (1178).
The Crows are ranked equal-second for points generated from intercepts (521).
Adelaide ranks first in the AFL for effective kicks (1271).
First-year Bulldog Billy Gowers is his team’s most targeted player inside forward 50m this season (35).
21 year-old Gowers has not gone goalless in a game at AFL level yet. In an interesting pattern, he kicked one goal in each of his first four games and two goals a game in the following four.
