WESTERN Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade says an in-form backline and defensive pressure across the board – not a lack of power forwards – will determine how far the Dogs go in 2009.  

Speaking after his team's enthralling 14-point win over Geelong at Docklands on Friday night, Eade said those attributes held the key to the ultimate success.

"That (defence) more than a power forward is going to be the difference whether how far we go in the finals series," he said.

"If we're consistent with our pressure, it gives us a chance. If we're not consistent with our pressure and we drop off at any stage, we certainly can get beaten.

Eade said talk of the Dogs needing power forwards only happened when the chips were down.

"It only comes when we lose. It doesn't come up when other teams that have got power forwards and they lose," he said.

"People are going to say what they think and that's fine. It's not going to change.

“As I calmly said to the gentleman for the sixth time: 'We haven't got one'. So we've got to work around it and deal with what we've got, but we've got some talented forwards."

The win means the Dogs have all but locked in a place the top four – they could also potentially finish third – and Eade said this was another tick in their 2009 journey.  

"After losing at home two weeks ago, the last three games were ultra-important and ultra-tough against three very good teams. We needed to win at least two of them and we've done that so far," he said.

"I thought we played well for most of the night. We had that patch about 20 minutes in the third quarter, when we were outplayed and full credit to Geelong, they got hold of us … and they were fantastic and we dropped our intensity and got caught.

"But it was pleasing in the last quarter to be able to answer that and fight back."

But with tongue-in-cheek, Eade added his side loved hitting the post, after it smashed the woodwork six times – including five in the first half.

"We're making that an art-form at the moment," he said.

"[We were] 7.12 at half-time and we should've been at least 10 goals or 12, so we dominated play, but couldn't get reward for effort.

"Fortunately at the end of the day, it didn't hurt us."

Eade praised the efforts of skipper Brad Johnson and also spoke of running defender Jarrod Harbrow, who has made the most of his opportunities after graduating via the rookie list.  

"He's had a couple of break-out games that have got the media especially, but people taking notice of him," he said.

"He's so unpredictable when he gets the footy and you don't know what he's going to do, so it makes it hard for the opposition. But the thing that makes him a good player is that he is such a competitive little bugger.

"He's not a receiver or an outside player – he's a real determined player who will compete and he's quite good in the air, which hasn't been shown yet."