THE WESTERN Bulldogs are steeling themselves for an intense and fiery battle against a rampaging Greater Western Sydney outfit on Saturday at Spotless Stadium.
The Dogs have returned to their bold best in the last two rounds, with a narrow win over the Adelaide Crows, and a strong victory against Melbourne on Sunday.
With both the Bulldogs and Giants sitting at 6-2 so far this season, the clash beckons as a mouth-watering encounter.
But it's one the Bulldogs are ready for.
"We've had a couple of fiery battles with them over the past few years," Bulldogs midfielder Lachie Hunter told AFL.com.au.
"It's going to be an intense game."
Coach Luke Beveridge admitted the in-form Giants, who have knocked off both Hawthorn and Geelong this season, presented a significant challenge for his group.
"I think each game presents its own incentive," he said after the Dogs' 32-point win over Melbourne on Sunday.
"It's sort of like an adventure, a bit like the great race really. There's challenges along the way, sometimes you stumble, sometimes you get them right.
"GWS is going to be a big challenge up there. They're going extremely well, they've had a couple of big scalps, so that in itself presents something that we can't turn our mind from.
"They've got momentum. Every part of their game seems to be in order so we take our game to theirs and we clash it and see who comes out on top. We’re looking forward to it."
The Bulldogs are wary of GWS' towering attack, which boasts the likes of Jeremy Cameron, Jonathon Patton and Rory Lobb.
The Giants are now the best scoring team in the League, averaging 104 points per game this season.
But Beveridge's back six, despite being undermanned at times, is the stingiest defence in the competition.
"Obviously with Cameron, Patton and those blokes, it's a pretty dangerous forward line," Hunter said.
"But our backline this year has conceded the least number of points, so we going into that confident."
First-year defender Marcus Adams is expected to return for the clash against the Giants, after missing the win over the Demons with a finger injury.
