THE withdrawal of three All-Australian players from West Coast's side has given the Western Bulldogs fresh hope of scoring an upset in Sunday's clash at Etihad Stadium.
The Bulldogs, 15th after 17 rounds with a 4-12 win-loss record, have been listed as $2.60 outsiders in the betting after the Eagles announced Nic Naitanui (soreness), Darren Glass (soreness) and Mark LeCras (foot) would be left out of the side.
Adam Selwood has been dropped and Luke Shuey (hamstring) will also be absent for the low-flying Eagles (7-9) who have been beaten in four of their past five games.
The Bulldogs regain skipper Matthew Boyd, although Brendan McCartney's side will be without tough defender Brett Goodes who fractured his forearm in last weekend's loss to Hawthorn.
Tom Young replaces Nathan Hrovat (soreness).
"Considering the way we've played in patches against Essendon and Hawthorn we've certainly got to be encouraged with how we've conducted ourselves against two of the best teams in the competition," Bulldogs forwards coach Shannon Grant said this week.
"What we're doing, we're quite happy with.
"If we can do it for longer periods, we'll continue to improve and hopefully beat a few teams in the last six weeks of the year."
Ryan Griffen has been in sensational form for the Bulldogs in the past three weeks with Boyd nursing a broken cheekbone on the sidelines. Acting captain Griffen had a game-high 37 disposals and kicked two goals against the Hawks.
Boyd and Griffen are averaging 29 disposals and Tom Liberatore's 7.69 clearances per game ranks him No.1 in the league.
The withdrawal of Naitanui is a boost for Bulldogs big man Will Minson, who leads the league in hit-outs after 17 rounds.
"Will Minson has had to pretty much shoulder that responsibility by himself for the majority of the year," Grant said.
"He has developed into an exceptional ruckman."
Grant says he sees positive signs in the development of young key forwards Liam Jones (19 goals) and Jarrad Grant (two goals in two matches).
"Jarrad has been terrific in the past fortnight. He only kicked one on the weekend but he had five shots on goal and kicked 1.4 unfortunately," Grant said.
The Eagles, two games out of the eight at the start of round 18, boast plenty of goalkicking power spearheaded by Jack Darling (36 goals) and Coleman Medal leader Josh Kennedy (51).
West Coast's five inclusions this week are Ashton Hams, Sam Butler, Blayne Wilson, Scott Selwood and ruckman Scott Lycett.
The athletic Naitanui has been grounded by groin soreness.
"I've had a lot of treatment, needles and stuff to try and settle it all down," he told the club's website.
