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Johnson could be named for ‘Dogs

By Mr Dandalooa

The Western Bulldogs said they plan to name captain Brad Johnson for Sunday’s opening AFL clash with Collingwood, without him even playing a pre-season match.

Johnson had been sidelined throughout the preseason and fighting a calf-related Achilles problem, but FootyGoss has learned he pulled up well from a fitness test on Monday.

Coach Rodney Eade said the 33-year-old was progressing well but the ‘Dogs wanted to see how Johnson recovered from that session and put him through another rigorous test on Friday before making the final call on Saturday.

“He’s trained hard over the past few weeks and he trained hard yesterday,” Eade said.

“A VFL practice match is an option for him as well as maybe another solid session replicating match fitness.”

“I would think we’ll name him and then we’ll decide, do we wait another week or do we play him this week.

“I can’t say definitively which way we’re going to go, but he’s a chance to play, there’s no doubt about that.”

Johnson is said to be anxious to play to notch his whopping 350th AFL match, which FootyGoss understands would make him the first Bulldog to reach that illustrious milestone.

Meanwhile, Nathan Eagleton will miss the match with a hamstring injury, while elevated rookie Brodie Moles could make his debut.

Forward Mitch Hahn fractured an eye socket in the preseason cup grand final and is likely to miss the open.

The Dogs said on its website he has undergone mental testing to assess his recovery from concussion.

But Eade reckons he wasn’t yet a certainty to play.

Collingwood have September finals on their minds, but the remain early-season favourites following an impressive NAB Cup campaign.

“I know we’ve had the better publicity recently, but over the past few years we’ve been just about parallel,” Eade said.

“We’ve both played in preliminary finals and whenever we’ve played Collingwood it’s been tight. The two teams are very evenly matched and now they’ve got Darren Jolly and Luke Ball so they’re going to improve again.

“We’re under no illusions they are a very good footy team.”