WESTERN Bulldogs assistant coach Leon Cameron said the Dogs must beat a side like Collingwood if they are to be considered genuine contenders.
The Bulldogs have beaten just one team in the top eight this year, and have lost to both St Kilda and Geelong.
Cameron predicted that Collingwood, who have beaten just the Brisbane Lions and Essendon from the current top eight, would also be looking to notch a top-four scalp.
"Beating Hawthorn last week, last year's premiers, was a good result for us. But in terms of beating sides [above us] on the ladder throughout the year, we haven't," he said on Tuesday
"We've played St Kilda; they beat us. And we played Geelong and they beat us."
He also said the match would be a pure contest between two very evenly matched sides.
"Collingwood team really well together; Mick Malthouse has them playing for each other, similar to us," he said.
"[Alan] Didak and [Dane] Swan and [Leon] Davis are probably their x-factor. They've been fantastic in the last four or five weeks and Heath Shaw is playing some really good footy.
"We're going to look at putting in things to stop those players ... They're probably going to look at Adam Cooney and Brad Johnson and Shaun Higgins and those sorts of players.
“There’s going to be outstanding match ups."
Cameron agreed the Magpies have improved their running ability since last year, and that their increase in speed would likely make for a tight scoreline.
"We were going through our match committee last night and they've probably got 12 to 13 runners and are very similar to us," he said.
"They've got a lot of smaller forwards that play in the midfield as well, so we do match up similar.
"It's going to be a fantastic match. They've won six in a row, we've won five in a row, and we are looking forward to the game."
Sam Reid looks to be the only possible change to the Dogs line-up after he pulled up with sore adductor from the Hawthorn match.
The Dogs have not completely ruled Reid out, but conceded the youngster had not trained since Saturday night's game.
Cameron said that, while the side would prefer to be unchanged, Tom Williams, Dylan Addison and Tim Callan could come in and cover well for Reid.
