THE WESTERN Bulldogs have been fined $5000 - $2500 of it suspended - by the AFL for runner Rohan Smith spending too much time on the field against Adelaide last Friday night.

Smith, who played 300 matches for the Bulldogs, wore a microphone for Channel 7's match coverage and was filmed on field for extended periods.

His time on field, and the nature of his messages to the players, was scrutinized on Monday night's episode of On the Couch on Fox Sports.

Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade said the club accepted the fine and said he had given Smith no special instructions last week.

"We'll cop that on the chin and move on," he said.

"Just the vision I saw, I didn't think he was out there too long myself. The message was to come off but I think on his way off he saw someone out of position.

"It wasn't the instructions to coach. I haven't got time to do it because we want the runners to come on and off."

Smith was not suspended but will not be running for the Bulldogs in Saturday's match against Gold Coast.

"We've got three runners to rotate, so he's been rotated and missed the boat this week," Eade said.

The Bulldogs finished their final training session at Metricon Stadium ahead of tomorrow's match with recalled full forward Barry Hall running strongly.

Eade's men defeated the Suns by 71 points in round three, but the Bulldogs coach expected a tougher test this time around.

"Our form over a long period of time hasn’t been great and we've got respect for the Suns," he said.

"They've played well in patches, against Geelong here they were in front at half time. They've got a lot of talent and we know that and we need to play well. We started to turn the corner last week and we need to continue that momentum.

"Last week we had a slow start and the last three quarters was pleasing, we've just got to continue that. It's not going to be perfect, we know that, that's the nature of AFL footy.  We've just got to hang in like we've been doing, we've shown plenty of spirit and some players returned to form last week and hopefully they can keep that going."

The Bulldogs coach also weighed in on the slinging tackle that has come to prominence this week with the two-match suspensions to Sydney Swan Shane Mumford and St Kilda's Justin Koschitzke.

Brisbane Lions captain Jonathan Brown said he was worried the code was going soft and becoming too imagine conscious.

Brown thought the AFL was pandering to parents who might not let their youngsters play.

But Eade disagreed, saying he thought the AFL had to be conscious of its image and its crackdown on the tackle technique was justified.

"I think the AFL has always been consistent, if anything happens with the head, it's sacrosanct," he said.

"You can tackle players without throwing them to the ground with any malice. I think the AFL has been consistent.

"I think we have to worry about the image of the game to be honest. I don't think we can bury our heads in the sand.

"It's all about education and the way you train your players to tackle. You can tackle aggressively without throwing the head into the ground."