IF THE Western Bulldogs continue their haphazard delivery into the forward line it will play right into West Coast's hands in next week's elimination final at Domain Stadium, star midfielder Luke Dahlhaus says.
Eagles defenders Jeremy McGovern and Tom Barrass were nearly impenetrable in the round 23 win over Adelaide, with their intercept marking cutting off many of the Crows' attacking forays.
Plagued by inefficiency up forward for most of the season, the Bulldogs have only kicked more than 100 points on five occasions – despite being the AFL's highest possession side.
Only once have Luke Beveridge's men cracked the ton against a top eight side, kicking 123 points in a high-scoring affair against the Crows at Etihad Stadium back in round seven.
The Dogs also sit a lowly 12th for scoring in 2016.
"We'd love to get some better (forward 50) connections and we've been working on that all year," Dahlhaus said.
"With a defence like West Coast's with (McGovern and Barrass) you just can't bomb it in and just hope.
"You've got to be very (accurate with your inside 50 entries) in Perth and we found that out against Fremantle (last week)."
In Perth last week for their round 23 clash with the Dockers, the Bulldogs watched intently from their hotel rooms as West Coast easily accounted for a heavily favoured Crows outfit at Adelaide Oval.
Dahlhaus, who has never played in a Dogs' win in Perth, conceded he's not overly thrilled with the Eagles returning to the form that carried them to Grand Final day in 2015.
"It's a bit annoying to be honest," Dahlhaus joked.
"We know they're a great team and they are the team that made the Grand Final last year, so they were always going to play well.
"It's going to be difficult going over there, but we think our team can hold up and beat them.
"I think we'll be better for the (Fremantle game) and hopefully go back there and get the win.
"It's hard to travel, (but) we've got to get used to it."
Returning to action in the past month after missing five matches with a knee injury, Dahlhaus says he's just about got his match fitness back to where it needs to be to combat an ever-improving Eagles' midfield division.
The 24-year-old was in All Australian form before the round 12 mishap against Port Adelaide, but he's tallied 27 disposals a game since rejoining the Dogs' deep on-ball brigade.
"I was blowing pretty early in that first game (against Geelong in round 19), but I think I've been OK and hopefully I can keep improving," Dahlhaus said.
"The Eagles have one of the best midfields in the League with blokes like (Luke) Shuey and (Matt) Priddis who are just A-graders and their depth is building.
"But we like to pride ourselves on the depth through our midfield because we have a lot of players who go through there and that's been one of the positives this year."