WESTERN Bulldogs full-back Brian Lake maintains flexibility is the key for the Dogs’ back six as the uncertainty over the make-up of the Kangaroos’ forward set-up continues. 

The Bulldogs will be trying to snap a four-game losing run against the Kangaroos at Telstra Dome on Sunday with Lake and his teammates prepared to face an attack that may or may not contain regular full-forward Nathan Thompson. 

“You prepare with their best squad in mind and I think that squad has Nathan Thompson in it,” Lake said on Thursday.

“It’s happened before, but I always just focus on the opposition putting out their best side and being ready for a few different blokes; you do a fair bit of research on all of the opposition anyway.

“With Hamish McIntosh going down with his knee, Drew Petrie’s played a bit more in ruck and then chopping and changing with David Hale as a deep forward. They might play tall, they might play small; it’s just a matter of being flexible.”

North Melbourne inflicted the first loss of the Bulldogs’ season in dramatic fashion back in round nine when skipper Brad Johnson barely missed a chance to win the game after the siren.

Lake said the crowded nature of the AFL season meant there was little time to reflect on past games and he doubted whether Johnson had given it much thought in the lead-in to the return bout.

“I hadn’t really thought about that actually. Johnno’s doing alright and to be honest there’s been no mention of that at all,” he said.

“I just remember that we lost last time, fair enough he could have won the game with a goal after the siren, but there were plenty of instances before that where we could have done better.”

Lake said the weekend’s game presented an excellent opportunity to even a ledger that had become uneven of late.

“They’ve had the wood on us over the last couple of years,” Lake said.

“I guess the times we’ve played them they’ve always had milestone games, we’ve had Glenn Archer, Brent Harvey and even this week its Drew Petrie’s 150th, so we are getting them at the wrong time, but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”