Senior coach Luke Beveridge is adamant the Western Bulldogs will be up for the challenge when they face Carlton on Saturday night. 

The Blues claimed the points earlier this season, recording a 44-point win against the Bulldogs in round five.

They’re coming off a second win for 2019, against Brisbane Lions on the weekend, and Beveridge knows the Bulldogs need to be wary – regardless of ladder positioning. 

“We’ll be expecting the strengths that we saw in their game when we played them last will be prevalent again on Saturday night,” Beveridge said on Friday at VU Whitten Oval.

“We’ll do our best to combat that, and bring out our best.

“We need to focus on our own energies and strengths, and empower our players to player at our best.

“They were reasonably impressive (Carlton) last week against Brisbane, and we know Brisbane are a good side.” 

The Blues were impressive around the contest in the sides’ most recent outing – led by skipper Patrick Cripps, who played one of the individual games of the season last week with 38 disposals and four goals to carry his side back after conceding a six-goal deficit.

Beveridge knows a win this week is important – and believes the Bulldogs can win every game they play in the run home, provided they keep improving.

“On our path to being a challenger again, we keep talking about how we can beat anyone – and we still feel like we can,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s Carlton, or whether it’s Collingwood the next week – we’ll go into the game with the same mindset and attitude that we’re a big chance. 

“We’re trying to improve every week and we’ve seen some really positive signs from a number of players who are trying to establish themselves in the game, with our core of experience who we’re hoping can lift us over the line when the games are tight. 

“We’re not quite there yet. But as the weeks tick by, we’re hoping at the back-end of the year that in those tight games we can win the day more often.”