Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says he is well aware of the task the Western Bulldogs talls propose.
Arguably the most in-form team in the competition, Luke Beveridge's men are exploiting the opposition with their impressive aerial contests at both ends of the ground.
Down one end, the Dogs boast intercept talls such as Liam Jones, Buku Khamis and Rory Lobb, with the latter making a remarkable switch merely a month ago to a new role.
The Lobb switch was due to the form of Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, Aaron Naughton and Sam Darcy in the front half, a trio Beveridge is adamant about inside 50.
The Bulldogs have taken down Geelong, Carlton and Sydney in successive weeks and pose as the flag's greatest threat, despite only just re-joining the top eight for the first time since Round 6.
"Everyone's talking about them for good reason, they're in brilliant form," Goodwin said of the Bulldogs.
"There's no question they're in the best form for a long, long time. They're defending to a high level, their midfields in great form and they got a pretty dynamic front half of the ground.
"Their intercept game. They've got that up to a really high level and it's something that our forwards have done a lot of work on on how to nullify opposition defenders taking aerial contests.
"Clearly those three guys for the Dogs are having a huge impact in games and we need to make sure we get the game looking like a Melbourne game more often.
"We know what we're up against."
Defensively, Goodwin's men still present as a difficult team to score against, sitting in the top six for the 2024 season.
However, it is the forward 50 where the Demons have struggled, ranking 14th for points scored amid a constant shuffling of the line-up.
Goodwin is still bullish about his club's chances, saying that the Melbourne-style game has been evident in recent weeks, but will need to be produced for longer if they're in any shot of playing finals.
"We think some of our footy in recent times has been really strong footy even though we haven't got some of the results we've been looking for," Goodwin said.
"We think we've shown some signs and we're looking to see how we go against one of the best teams in the comp at the moment.
"You see so many teams fluctuate... two or three wins in a row to be right up there in the competition and you only need two or three losses to be out of the eight and on the way down.
"I'm sure there'll be another twist and we hope we'll be part of a positive twist."
Goodwin also left the door slightly ajar for Lachie Hunter to play his 200th game, ironically against his former club, but will need to prove himself before Friday's clash.
