St Kilda coach Ross Lyon knows all too well the danger that Western Bulldogs' boom recruit Barry Hall presents to the Saints' hopes of lifting a third NAB Cup in seven years on Saturday night.
After all Lyon was an assistant coach to Sydney's Paul Roos when Hall captained the Swans to their first premiership in 72 years in 2005.
Lyon has watched with interest throughout the pre-season as Hall has kicked 10 goals in two games for the Bulldogs to lead Rodney Eade's team into its first grand final of any description in 40 years.
Last year the Saints - who amassed the best defensive record of any team in the modern era - kept the Bulldogs - the league's highest scoring team in 2009 - to just 32 goals in their four meetings for the season.
The Saints won all four of those encounters including a seven-point win in last year's preliminary final when the Dogs could only manage seven goals.
But Lyon conceded on Friday the Bulldogs' attack would be a tougher proposition for even his team's fantastic defence to contain in Saturday night's NAB Cup grand final now that the Dogs have Hall leading their attack.
"He was a great leader and a great player (at Sydney) and it seems like he will be a wonderful acquisition for the Bulldogs," Lyon said of Hall on Friday, adding he was thrilled that Hall was given a chance at his third club following the tumultuous end to his career in Sydney.
"At the end of the day you want to see talented players play the game and it's the great forwards that bring a lot of fans through the gates and that is what it's all about."
Lyon predicted either Zac Dawson or Sam Fisher would get the job on Hall on Saturday night as he was pleased at the thought of his defence having such a tough hit-out against the free-scoring Bulldogs in their last match before the start of the 2010 home and away season.
"We will pay them the due respect," he said of the Dogs attack.
"It's a window of opportunity for a number of our players to test themselves against a power forward (line) but what we know is its about team defence and team pressure and that is what we want to bring to the table to help our defenders every week."
But Lyon said the Saints could not afford to worry solely about the Dogs' forward line on Saturday night.
"They were the No.1 (ranked) attack last year and they score efficiently but I think what everyone underestimates about the Bulldogs is their competing and their team defence as well," he added.
"They had a significant improvement from the first half to the second half of the year (last year in terms of their defence and points conceded per match) and I think they want to show how strong their defence is as well."