WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has had to keep a lid on the excitement building around Whitten Oval, with his team in control of its destiny ahead of the finals.
The Bulldogs sit in eighth spot and hold a four-point lead over Adelaide, Port Adelaide and Hawthorn heading into round 23, meaning a win over the Crows would guarantee a spot in the finals.
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"I had to calm one or two of our supporters on the fence yesterday, 'just cool your jets, we're not there just yet'," Beveridge said.
"It's brilliant that we've got ourselves in this position where we are in control of our own destiny."
Luke Beveridge's Dogs can secure a September ticket with a win on Sunday. Picture: AFL Photos
The Bulldogs will host Adelaide in Ballarat on Sunday, which will be the first time these two sides will meet at Mars Stadium.
"It might be similar to when we played in Adelaide against Port Adelaide last time, where it was a bit of a territory-type game.
"We've had a rehearsal. 'Mapes' (general manager of football Chris Maple) has had a look at the ground, it's in great nick and might be a little but soft underfoot, but we will be ready for it."
On the back of recent results, comparisons to the 2016 premiership-winning Dogs have been made, but Beveridge acknowledges there's some clear differences.
"Our offensive aspects are better than what they've been historically. It's a combination of the skill and the decision-making."
A shift away from relying on midfielders to hit the scoreboard has also been a big tick from Beveridge's side of things.
Eleven of the side's 19 goals against the Giants in round 22 came from Aaron Naughton, Josh Schache, Tory Dickson, Sam Lloyd and Bailey Dale.
In turn, Marcus Bontempelli and Josh Dunkley have had outstanding years as they've spent more time on-ball.
We've got to win this week – we don't want it to be in the hands of the gods where we lose and hope for percentage - Luke Beveridge
Bontempelli's name has been a topic of discussion this week following an incident with Giant Nick Haynes that came under match-review scrutiny.
Before breaking down the incident, Beveridge handed down some praise for Haynes, despite admittedly not being a fan of praising other teams' players to his own group.
"The respect and admiration I have for Nick Haynes, I think he's almost the best intercept, courageous defender in the competition.
"Even last week I called our players in, we were doing some scenario-based training. I said to our forwards 'what we asked you to do there, we didn't quite get right, and if we don't get it right, Nick Haynes is going to intercept everything'."
Haynes will miss 2-4 weeks with a fractured larynx, which Beveridge labelled as "tragic", but he stands firm in his belief that match review decisions should be based on intent and whether there's any malice, rather the outcome.
"Marcus takes ground quickly, he's anticipating one of two things; one, Nick Haynes uses deception and baulks him and gets around him, so he's got to be careful, he's got to short his steps and he's got to slow down a fraction.
"Or two, he kicks the ball. Nick in his desire to get the most out of his kick, he kicks it extremely late.
"Marcus has virtually stopped and Nick's momentum has taken him into Marcus and what's he going to do but stand there."
Bontempelli avoided suspension, but the Dogs will still have a few selection dilemmas this week.
Tim English will return, while Beveridge admits it would be "very tough" to take defender Lewis Young out of the side after coming in as a late change last week.
"He (Young) played extremely well. It's a tough ask to take the phone call on Sunday morning to be told that you’re definitely playing, jump on a plane pretty quickly and perform an absolutely critical role in a huge game, I thought he was outstanding."
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