COLLINGWOOD captain Nick Maxwell says the Western Bulldogs deserve to be ranked alongside league pacesetters St Kilda and Geelong.

The Bulldogs host the Magpies at Docklands this Friday night in a clash that pits third against fourth.

While the Saints and Cats grabbed much of the spotlight for their game on Sunday, the third-placed Dogs arguably made more of an impact the night before when they whacked reigning premier Hawthorn by 88 points.

Maxwell says it wasn’t only that performance that has caught attention, with Rodney Eade’s side staking their claim in recent weeks as a legitimate contender for the 2009 premiership.

“They’re definitely up there,” Maxwell said from the Lexus Centre on Tuesday.

“They’ve improved their defence the past 12-18 months; they’ve been sensational in that area … they’ve shown that they’re right up there with the best of them.

“The Bulldogs pushed Geelong all the way and they’ve been sensational – particularly last weekend.

“So obviously it’s going to be a big game for us [this weekend].”

Collingwood, like the Bulldogs, will also enter the match in red-hot form having won six games on end.

Maxwell agreed his team’s recent run had been against sides below his own on the AFL ladder but said you could only beat the teams you were scheduled to play.

“We’ve been looking forward to playing some of the better teams to see where we’re really at,” he said.

Teammate and vice-captain Josh Fraser, best afield in last week’s win over Essendon, backed his skipper’s assessment of the Bulldogs and said the Magpies could not allow to give the opposition any room to move.

“The hallmark of any good side is the ability to put pressure on around the ground and really restrict their ball movement,” Fraser said.

“That was the key to our victory last week against Essendon.

“We’ve had a good look at them [the Bulldogs] over the last month and they’ve got some pretty talented players who use the ball really well and they’ve kicked pretty high scores.

“There’s not one specific area. Right across the ground we’re going to have to be at our very best.”

Maxwell also confirmed Irish teammate Marty Clarke would be given a week’s leave later in the season to return home to attend his sister’s wedding.

Clarke had asked for the break at the beginning of the season and the Pies were only too happy to meet his request – meaning he will miss round 19.

“He is heading home and we’re happy with that,” Maxwell said.

“We take a lot from a lot of players, particularly the Irish guys … we bring them across and they only get to go home once a year for a couple of weeks.

“We take a lot away from them and we don’t want them to miss out on something like that … his sister getting married is pretty important, so we don’t want to take that away from him.”