The Bulldogs looked head and shoulders above the rest of the competition during the opening seven rounds but appear mortal once more after a three-point win at Scottsdale and last weekend’s draw with Longford.

Hillwood awaits this weekend as the Bulldogs look to celebrate their 1998 premiership reunion with a win.

“There’s been a bit of speculation about ‘what's happened to you blokes?’ but the only real answer I’ve got is that we’ve played against two really good sides who’ve played four-quarter efforts,” Harding said.

“If you had’ve said we’d come out 8-0 after the first eight games with what we’ve lost this year, I would have said ‘you’re crazy’.

“It’s been a good effort by our guys to get ourselves back into winnable positions because we looked dead and buried in both games, and it’s good for our younger guys to be part of a game where things haven’t been going our way for most of it.”

Midfielder Adam Humzy and defenders Josh Moore and Ryan Choveaux will return for the Sharks, who haven’t played a game in three weeks.

Coach Nathan Lowe said his troops had put in their hardest two weeks of training so far this season and were well-prepared for South.   

“(Longford) beat us by two points and to see Longford and Scottsdale push South to within less than a goal, it’s given us good confidence,” Lowe said.

“We match up pretty well on South, our match-ups forward to back are really good so I think it’ll just depend on who’s more switched on.”

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All the results from round 10

SCOTTSDALE kept its season alive by beating Bracknell and can peg back another four points with a positive result at Rocherlea.

Coach Geoff Mohr will regain Joe Krushka for the must-win clash and singled out Suburban Tigers duo Ben Elmer and Brayden Claridge as players his side must contain.

“This week’s a pretty big game because Rocherlea’s one of the ones we’ll be fighting for a spot with, so we’ve got to make sure we win those ones,” Mohr said.

“I think every game for us now on is (a must-win) if we want to play finals footy, we’ve just got to keep winning and hopefully last weekend was the start of that.”

Converting scoring chances into goals is Lyndon Stubbs’ focus point after a big win at George Town. 

Corey Rhodes (shoulder) is the sole omission from last weekend’s side.  

“We don’t expect any easy games and this week’s no different,” Stubbs said. 

“Regardless of their position on the ladder they’ve been competitive in all their games, so I see it as an important week for us.

“If they’ve turned the corner we need to be on top of our game to beat them.”

Allan O’Sign could make his long-awaited return as GEORGE TOWN chases its first win in seven weeks.

Deloraine took a 10-point win last time the two sides met and the Saints coach said his side was desperate for revenge. 

“The boys are really keen to square the ledger,” O’Sign said. “We’ve had a great week on the track so hopefully we can put our solid work on the track into our game.”

The dangerous forward said he was about “50-50” to return alongside Sam Cooke.  

“It’s been a long five weeks but I’m just about ready to go and get back into it and hopefully have a good back half of the year.”

LONGFORD has a great chance to back up last week’s heroics when it travels to Bracknell.

Tom Cox, Jackson Blair and Luke Pearton have all been strong in recent weeks to keep the Country Tigers in touch with the top five.

“After drawing with South there’s a really positive feel about the club, everyone’s up and about,” coach Beau Thorp said.

“Obviously there’s some signs that we have improved so that’s a bit of a tick towards the boys, but you're only as good as your last game.”