The Western Bulldogs have made one change ahead of this weekend’s preliminary final against Greater Western Sydney, with defender Fletcher Roberts brought in to replace Mathew Suckling for the twilight clash.
The 196cm Roberts comes in for his 17th game of the season, while Matthew Suckling will miss with achilles soreness.
Roberts has lead the Club in one-percenters in 2016, his 7.7 per contest placing him 20th in the League.
Speaking to media at VU Whitten Oval on Thursday morning, coach Luke Beveridge said that the Dogs will go into Saturday’s match full of confidence after disposing of both 2015 grand finalists in successive weeks.
"It definitely helps when you're doing everything you can to blaze a new trail, you're in new situations, there's not a lot of experience, and you keep knocking over the fences in front of you," Beveridge said.
"We have had some big outcomes on our recent journey that [has] added fuel to the fire.”
The Giants won by 25-points the last time the two sides met but Beveridge will take in a different looking side to the one that dropped the round nine encounter at Spotless Stadium.
Matthew Boyd and Jason Johannisen are two of seven new faces who will make the trip to Sydney this time.
While the two sides have had different preparations - the Giants will have played just the one game in 27 days - Beveridge said time will tell whether momentum or rest will win out on the day.
"We've got a bit of continuity because we've only had the one break, but time will tell," he said.
"It's a combination of so many things. It's the maturity of your group, the need for games under your belt, how sore your players have been and all those sorts of things.'
“I'm sure the opposition have trained in a fashion that's prepared them well for Saturday.
“There are just no excuses (for) either side."
Tom Campbell, Lukas Webb and Roarke Smith have been named as emergencies.
Western Bulldogs v Greater Western Sydney
Saturday 24 September 2016, 5;15pm
Venue: Spotless Stadium
| Full back | J Johannisen | J Hamling | M Boyd |
| Half back | S Biggs | D Morris | E Wood |
| Centreline | L Hunter | M Bontempelli | L Picken |
| Half forward | J Macrae | Z Cordy | J Stringer |
| Full forward | T Dickson | T Boyd | C Daniel |
| Followers | J Roughead | L Dahlhaus | T Liberatore |
| Interchange | C Smith | T McLean | F Roberts |
| J Dunkley | |||
| Emergencies | T Campbell | L Webb | R Smith |
In: F Roberts
Out: M Suckling (Achilles)
