A call to arms
Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade wants fans of the team to turn out in big numbers for the semi final against the Swans
Just more than 34,000 tickets have been sold for the Bulldogs-Sydney Swans semi-final, and Eade has called on Doggies' fans to boost those numbers and show support for the side in its do-or-die final.
"It's important for us because we've got to have a home ground advantage against an interstate team," Eade said on Thursday.
"It will be great to see the red, white and blue there en masse and I think we can get the home ground advantage and certainly a home crowd advantage.
"When we play interstate we obviously face that as well and I think it would be a huge advantage for our players. Certainly from our point of view we'd like all our supporters to get there en masse and hopefully they can."
Eade said all his players trained well on Wednesday, and he wasn't expecting to make enforced changes ahead of the game because of injuries.
However, he didn't rule out any omissions from the team that lost to Hawthorn last week.
"We're looking at least one [change], there may be two. We'll have another meeting this afternoon," Eade said.
"It's a matter of form and balance, but mainly balance. I don't think you need to have a knee-jerk reaction at this time of the year and make changes just for the sake of it.
"But it will certainly be more about the balance against the opposition."
When asked what sort of tactical changes he would look to make, Eade jokingly rattled off an unrealistic desire for effective bookends.
"We could get a power forward, maybe a tall defender," he laughed.
"It's not so much about run, it's more about the Swans' forward line. It's very talented with some height that's very agile.
"You've got [Barry] Hall, [Adam] Goodes, [Ryan] O'Keefe and they can play [Ted] Richards there as well."
Eade said he wasn't expecting the Swans to make many changes from their side that easily ran over North Melbourne last Saturday night.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they stayed the same," he said.
"Whether they make a change or not, I wouldn't imagine it's going to upset them too much.
"They played very well last week."