YOUNGSTER Clayton Oliver says stopping dangerous Bulldog Jake Stringer will be one of the big tests for Melbourne at the MCG this Sunday.
Oliver said Stringer, who has developed into one of the most exciting players in the competition, needed to be curtailed.
“Jake Stringer is going to be a big one, but I think whoever goes to him should be able to shut him down,” he told Melbourne TV.
“I think Lachie Plowman, the Carlton player who played him the other week, shut him down so hopefully someone can do the same thing.”
On the back of last round’s 73-point win over the Gold Coast Suns at Metricon Stadium, Oliver said Melbourne quickly turned its attention to the fourth-placed Bulldogs.
“We celebrated a good win on Saturday night, but pretty much the next day, we were into recovery and Monday was match review. We really just knuckled down and focused on the Western Bulldogs game,” he said.
“On Wednesday we had the opposition review and we were pretty switched on to that – [coach] Roosy (Paul Roos) is pretty onto that.
“We want to celebrate the win, but we don’t want to celebrate it too long. We wanted to focus on this week and what’s coming up.”
Asked if Melbourne was a greater chance of defeating the Bulldogs at the MCG, rather than Etihad Stadium, Oliver said: “I don’t know. I think we do because it’s a bit of a fortress for them over at Etihad, but wherever we play, hopefully it will be a good game.”