WESTERN Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney has backed the close-checking tactics of tagger Liam Picken.
The debate surrounding shut-down players again reared its head, following North Melbourne veteran Brent Harvey's three-game suspension for misconduct against Picken in last Sunday's clash at Etihad Stadium.
The Match Review Panel referred the incident straight to the Tribunal where Harvey was handed a three-game ban, which will see him miss week one of the finals.
VIDEO: Replay Liam Picken's tangle with Brent Harvey.
McCartney revealed on Thursday that the Bulldogs had recently advised Picken on how best to legally tag an opponent without conceding free kicks, after he was penalised several times for holding and scragging across rounds 19 and 20.
"He had a job to do last week, and if he was doing something untoward he would have had free kicks paid against him, but he didn't," McCartney said on Thursday.
"He did his job for his team, played to his strengths and unfortunately an incident arose."
"He dealt with [the Harvey incident] like a man. He's a fantastic Western Bulldogs person. But I really want to commend him for his manliness.
"If Liam had actually got up and done what a lot of us with a short temper would do, it would have been a bigger issue. I thought he conducted himself pretty well."
McCaartney admitted there was a "possibility" the umpires would pay closer attention to Picken against the Swans on Sunday at Etihad Stadium, but said the stopper wouldn't be changing his game style.
The Bulldogs will look to shut down the Swans' dangerous midfielders with Dan Hannebery, Jarrad McVeigh and Luke Parker likely targets.
"Daniel Hannebery is a class player and he looks like he's building fitness again," McCartney said.
"I have a lot of respect for Jarrad McVeigh - he's almost like a coach on the ground, and Luke Parker's assuming a nice role in their midfield.
"There's a couple of jobs there and we'll fine tune that today. We won’t be too reactive, we'll just go into battle with a couple of jobs like we usually do."
Midfielders Jack Macrae and Nathan Hrovat are set to return to the Bulldogs side with both training strongly this week.
