WESTERN Bulldogs defender Jordan Roughead won’t let family ties get in the way when his team takes on the Hawks at Aurora Stadium on Sunday.
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The 23-year-old full-back expects to spend some time lining up on Hawks star forward, and cousin, Jarryd Roughead in their round 19 clash.
‘‘There’s a good chance I will spend a bit of time on Jarryd,’’ he said.
‘‘The last time we headed down there to play the Hawks I spent the majority of the game lining up on him.
‘‘It’s interesting, but during the game it’s just another opponent and you go out and try to beat him.
‘‘But it’s a great experience to be out there with a family member and something I know our family is proud of and enjoy watching.’’
Having played 68 games since being drafted in 2008, Roughead said his side was capable of causing an upset despite going into the game as rank underdog.
‘‘We’re really looking forward to the challenge of coming down to Tasmania and trying to get away with four points,’’ he said.
‘‘Obviously Hawthorn had a great game last Saturday night against the Swans and we will look at some vision from that game and see if we can find where we can get them.’’
Although he started his career as a forward, Roughead said two seasons in defence plus some expert tuition from Bulldogs 300-game veteran Rohan Smith and specialist coach and former Geelong champion Matthew Scarlett had helped him ‘‘to learn some tricks down back’’, and play the position to the best of his ability.
‘‘Playing with guys like Rob Murphy and Dale Morris has also helped me develop as a back man and hopefully on the weekend we can perform really well as a defensive unit and keep the Hawks forwards pretty quiet,’’ he said.
‘‘My form has been up and down so I’m trying to find that consistency and work with the rest of the defensive line to keep building on our recent form.
‘‘We’re aiming to take another step forward on the weekend and do it against a quality opposition.’’