The Western Bulldogs have opted for a settled lineup ahead of Saturday’s clash against Richmond, backing the current team to improve again on last week’s performance.

While the Dogs went down by 29 points against the Roos in a tough encounter, Assistant Coach Steven King said there were plenty of positives to draw on.

“I think we were harder to play against [when we played North Melbourne], our contest was a lot stronger for longer and defensively we were a lot better,” King said.

“Just to be able to sustain that now for four quarters is the challenge.”

The game is not without occasion however, with defender Easton Wood poised to play his 50th career game.

After an injury affected 2013, Wood has been a consistent performer this year, taking on additional responsibility in the back six.

Tory Dickson, Marcus Bontempelli and versatile tall Tom Williams have been named as emergencies this week after some solid VFL form.

King said Richmond’s flexibility and depth make them a difficult team to play but the Bulldogs are ready for the challenge at hand.

“Obviously they’ve got a pretty deep midfield, they’ve got some classy players that can play all over the ground – so mids playing forward or back, likewise throughout their whole team,” he said.

“We’ve got to control some of their talent but they really are a dangerous team - they have got some dangerous forwards and they rebound really strongly off half back.

“We’ve just got to learn from what got us last time a little bit and hopefully I think we’ve improved over summer to come out and give ourselves the best chance this week.”



View the complete team list for the Bulldogs' opponents Richmond for Sunday's match.

