THE Western Bulldogs will enter the finals in red-hot form and midfielder Adam Cooney says they are in the best shape they have ever been entering a finals series.

The Brownlow medallist said the Dogs' past three weeks, which have included wins over the Brisbane Lions, Geelong and Collingwood, had given the side a momentum it hadn't possessed in the lead-in to previous finals campaigns.

"In previous years, we've sort of limped into the finals," he said.

"We lost our first final last year in a pretty disappointing fashion, so to go in with the guys' confidence up is a positive.

"It gives the guys a lot of confidence, especially the young guys who haven't been exposed to too much finals footy.

"It's good for the confidence of the young guys to know we can match it with the better teams."

While he said it would not have mattered had the Dogs been scheduled to face the Saints next week, he conceded his side would take positives from its round 21 win over the Cats ahead of Saturday's qualifying final.

"Obviously, they're a fantastic side, everyone knows how good they are, they play well in the finals and they've shown in the last couple of years that if they're not the best team going around at that moment, they're right up there," he said.

"Their pressure and the way they move the footy is obviously second to none.

"We'll look on our game two weeks ago ... and take the positives out of that.”

Cooney said he was pleased to be running into some form after an indifferent start to the season, and was looking forward to an injury-free finals campaign after facing most of last September with a cracked kneecap.

The Dogs defeated Collingwood by enough points on Sunday to leapfrog the Pies on the ladder and secure third and Cooney he was distracted in the final quarter by the scoreboard displaying the league's 'live ladder'.
Having entered Sunday's match one game and 2.82 percent behind Collingwood, the Dogs had to win by at least 22 points in order to pinch third spot and sew up a qualifying finals clash with Geelong.

When a goal to Brad Johnson with one minute to spare moved the Dogs 24 points clear of the Magpies, Cooney stole a glance to check if it was enough.

"I had a bit of a sneak - I was a bit away with the fairies because I kept looking up at the scoreboard to see where we were at," Cooney said.

"But I suppose it's good in a way to know where you're sitting at the time.”

Cooney said the final round victory – and the knowledge that the Dogs had stolen third position from the form side of the competition – gave his side a boost.

"Obviously, it's pretty positive for us. We knew coming into the game it was 22 points, something like that, but our main objective was just to win," he said.

"For the most part, we played pretty well.

"It's a whole different ball game now, coming into the finals, and having sewn up third spot, it's all behind us now.

"We're just looking forward to this week and obviously a massive game."