The Western Bulldogs have made one change that disposed of the West Coast Eagles in Perth last Thursday, with small forward Toby McLean being brought in to replace the injured Lin Jong.

Jong suffered a broken collarbone midway through he second quarter in the First Elimination Final after being caught in a heavy tackle from Eagles defender Jeremy McGovern.

McLean was a key cog in the Bulldogs forward set-up in the first half of the season, before going down against the Eagles with an ankle injury in round 11.

He returned against Essendon in round 20 to post 20 possessions and kick a goal in the 40-point win, and has averaged 17 possessions, four marks and two tackles per contest in 2016.

The 20-year-old has kicked a goal in all but three of his matches so far this season.

Speaking to gathered media at VU Whitten Oval on Thursday morning, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said that spirits were high around the Club in the lead up to Friday’s Semi Final and he expects to take some momentum into tomorrow night’s cut-throat clash with the Hawks.

“It’s been an exciting week after having a really positive result last week, so not a lot has changed except that it is encouraging that we’ve been able to win a final which we haven’t done for a little while,” Beveridge said.

“We’ll go into this game with a bit more of a head of steam than we did last week.”

With a spot in the Preliminary Final up for grabs, Beveridge said he expects a physical contest with the reigning premiers.  

“It’s been part of the Hawks’ trademark for a long period of time, they’re a hard-nosed football team,” Beveridge said.

“I think some of the more experienced sides maybe think they can exploit that from time to time and our guys, encouragingly, have been able to stand up against that but this is another big final… it’s our test, isn’t it?

“We need to stand up and be counted and play our best footy, you can’t get carried away and be undisciplined, we just need to be as hard as we have been and I think that will serve us well.”

Tom Campbell, Lukas Webb and Roarke Smith make up the emergencies.

Semi Final – Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs
Friday 16 September, 7:50pm
Venue: MCG