Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade has backed his star forwards Brad Johnson and Scott Welsh to hit back strongly in Friday night's semi-final against Sydney at the MCG.
The Bulldogs' two most experienced forwards were virtually unsighted during last week's disappointing qualifying final loss against Hawthorn - booting just one goal between them.
Welsh - a premiership player with the Kangaroos way back in 1999 and a four-time leading goal-kicker for Adelaide - had just 10 possessions while Bulldogs skipper Johnson had 16.
As a result the Bulldogs could only manage 11 goals for the game and copped a 51-point hiding from a Hawthorn side that had Lance Franklin in devastating form up the other end with eight goals.
Eade knows that Welsh and Johnson must improve against the Swans on Friday night if the Dogs are to avoid becoming only the third side to make a straight sets finals exit since the current finals system began in 2000.
The Bulldogs coach said Welsh's name had even come up in selection discussions as a possible omission this week but the Dogs are prepared to back the 29-year-old for another week despite the fact he has kicked just four goals in the past five games.
"We spoke about Scott but he kicked five against them (Sydney) the last time (in round 18) and while there has been a game or two since where he hasn't kicked a lot of goals, he has had 17 or 18 possessions playing further up the field but his last two or three games have been down," Eade said.
"But the thing about Scott is he has got finals experience, he is a talented player and he can kick goals and take marks so I think with the way he can play, he would stay in the side."
And while there is no doubt about whether Johnson will keep his place in the side, Eade admits his 32-year-old skipper has been down in the past fortnight - with just one goal in the past two matches.
"Brad has been down the last couple of weeks - he copped that bad knock in Adelaide (in round 22) where he had six staples in his head so that affected him and like a lot of us, he was down last week."
"But you can't just point the finger at Brad."
"Brad has got a lot of pride and he has led the team very well this year so I would imagine he would bounce back as well."