The Western Bulldogs will be focusing on a fast start in Saturday's top-of-the-table clash against Geelong at Skilled Stadium, to create the 'sounds of silence' and take the crowd out of the equation.
Speaking after training at Whitten Oval on Wednesday, Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade said the Dogs would be approaching the contest as if they were playing interstate.
"Ninety-five percent of the people are going to be Geelong supporters, so there's going to be a bit of noise," Eade said.
"I suppose it's like going to Adelaide or somewhere like that, but I think our players will cope with that pretty well."
"It will be the sounds of silence, hopefully. Silence is golden so hopefully we can have that on the weekend."
"For our supporters it’s a bit of a disappointment - it would be nice to be at the MCG with 60 or 70,000 people, so there's going to be a lot of our supporters who won’t see it."
Eade said he didn't believe it was a bonus to be taking on the Cats without injured stars Gary Ablett and Cameron Ling.
"They're going to have two good replacements - (James) Kelly will be back, who's a good player and I think (Brent) Prismall is probably the other one," Eade said.
"They've got a lot of depth."
"We would probably prefer to play them at full-strength so we can get an idea where we’re at."
"We're under no illusions, it’s a big challenge we've got - they’re obviously the best team in the competition and we're obviously chasing them and I think the weekend will give an indication of where we’re at."
Asked about Geelong coach Mark Thompson's comment that he expects a 'pure' contest on Saturday involving hard but fair football, Eade said: "That's the way we play".
"The two of us are one and two in contested ball so I think it would be a fairly aggressive game as far as attacking the footy."
"We both like to score so, from that aspect, he's probably right."
Coming off a six-day break and an unimpressive performance against Melbourne last Sunday, Eade said it's been important to stick to routine and keep things as normal as possible.
He said Ryan Griffen, who missed the Demons clash to attend to family matters at home in Adelaide, and Scott Welsh, a late withdrawal on Sunday with back tightness, would return to this week's line-up.
Mitch Hahn will play with the plantar fascia tendon he snapped during last Sunday's clash with Melbourne, which has relieved the soreness in his foot which had hampered him for several weeks.
"At least now heading into the finals he can train properly and build his fitness up, which is good," Eade said.
Robert Murphy, Adam Cooney and Dale Morris - all nursing sore spots - trained away from the main group on Wednesday but are expected to take part in Thursday's main session.