Despite running an undefeated Geelong to within a kick last weekend, Gilbee said the Swans’ blistering form against Port Adelaide made them deserved favourites.
“The thing about the Swans this year is that they’ve got all their stars on the park and that really helps,” he said on Tuesday.
“They’ve played better football than us over the past four weeks and will probably go in favourites.
“They’ve got all their guns up and firing with [Barry] Hall, [Michael] O’Loughlin, [Adam] Goodes and [Ryan] O’Keefe playing good footy, so it’s certainly going to be a good challenge for the boys but it’s something we’re looking forward to.”
Amid the disappointment of losing to Geelong after Brad Johnson’s post-siren miss, Gilbee said the Bulldogs had taken plenty of confidence from their patches of good football.
“To come back from 37 points down against a quality outfit shows that we can do it but it also shows you that if you’re not intense at the footy for the whole four quarters, you’re not going to be competitive in today’s football.
“It doesn’t matter if you play Geelong or one of the bottom teams … you’ve just got to bring intensity every week.
“It would be disappointing if we didn’t back it up this weekend. It was an honourable loss last week and hopefully we can turn that into a good win on Saturday.”
The clash between the third-placed Dogs and the fifth-placed Swans – who are separated only by percentage – looms as one of the games of round 10.
Gilbee said the result would be crucial as both teams looked to rise above the mid-table congestion in the lead-up to the split round in two weeks.
“If you lose, you can drop down to 11th or 12th so every game becomes really important,” he said.
“We’ve got a pretty important block of games coming up until we reach the bye, so it’s important that we get at least two or three wins before that bye and really set our second half of the season up.
“Top four is something that every club aims for and I think the top two are pretty much sewn up with Geelong and the Saints, so [teams will] be fighting tooth and nail for that third and fourth spot.”
