WESTERN Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade doesn't think the confidence of his players has been dented by their win-loss ratio from the past month and a half.
Since round 16, the Dogs have won two games and lost five, with just a solitary victory over Essendon coming in the past month.
"From my point of view, I don't think it has," Eade said on Monday.
"The belief and the confidence has been there; whether we haven't handled that scenario where we've had our spot sewn up so far out, maybe not finishing games off or having a quarter off here or there, maybe that's a lack of concentration.
"But as far as confidence levels, I don't think that's been eroded at all.
"You wouldn't want to lose every game because maybe then you question yourself about getting over the line, but I think with the couple of wins we've had over the past four or five weeks and then with the performance on the weekend, I think it's been pleasing.
"But it's more about the way we go about it, and maybe Aker's [Jason Akermanis] an example as we've been able to try some players in difference positions at times.
"I think except for maybe an extra win or two, we've achieved what we've wanted to achieve over the past five or six weeks."
The Bulldogs are one of five sides to have beaten their upcoming qualifying final opponents Hawthorn this season, and were the first to successfully dismantle the side's rolling zone when they faced off in Tasmania back in round 10.
Eade said while finals football creates a completely different scenario, he agreed his players can take heart from that 32-point win.
"You can take confidence from it, but having said that, it was 13 weeks ago," he said.
"They've probably got two or three good players who didn't play that weekend, but I think they'll still play the same style.
"From that aspect, our guys can take some confidence but it's certainly a different set of circumstances."
Eade also said the Dogs, who will face the Hawks without the obvious match up for Lance Franklin in Tom Williams, have plenty of options when it comes to curbing the Coleman Medallist's influence.
He believes accepting the big Hawk will be prolific up forward despite the best defensive efforts and focusing on winning the midfield battle is a better way to tackle him.
"Brian [Lake] can play there, Ryan Hargrave has played on him before," he said.
"The thing with Buddy is he's going to get his nine, 10 shots at goal [regardless]. I thought [Paul] Bower did very well on him on the weekend with the amount of times the ball went inside 50.
"He still had nine shots at goal, and he's still going to generate that because he's such a quality player.
"I think it's going to be more about the pressure in the midfield and being able to win the ball more often, and if the ball is going our way more often, there's less chance of him getting the footy."
