FRESH from shutting down a potent Adelaide attack, Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has acknowledged the threat dynamic defenders Jeremy McGovern and Tom Barrass pose in Thursday night's cut-throat elimination final.

The intercept-mark specialists played a large part in the Eagles' round 23 upset win over the Crows at Adelaide Oval, reducing the host's League-leading scoring efficiency of 53 per cent to just 45 per cent – the 12th best of the final round.

That level of containment has alarm bells ringing at Whitten Oval, with the Dogs sitting a lowly 10th for scoring despite being the AFL's highest possession side.

Mega-preview: Elimination final, West Coast v Western Bulldogs

McGovern and Barrass combined for 16 marks to be two of the Eagles' best against Adelaide, and with the Bulldogs not having the tallest forward line, Beveridge has put the heat on his team to improve its poor efficiency up forward.

"That is going to be a very important part of the game that we don't allow (McGovern and Barrass) to get the ball back easily," Beveridge said on Tuesday.

"We need to make sure (our forwards) contest those balls coming in, but our big challenge has been our completions, what we do with our kicking to advantage, connecting with our forwards and making sure our movement up forward is in sync.

"If we get all that right, we give ourselves a chance to reduce their intercept plays."

The Eagles' vastly improved form over the past month has coincided with the return of the team's famed 'web', which strangles the opposition's attacking forays.

The long and narrow dimensions of Domain Stadium suit the home side's defensive set up and that will make the Bulldogs' task of kicking a winning score all the more difficult if they don't move the ball proficiently.

"There's definitely less space from a width point of view, but it depends how quickly you move the ball," Beveridge said.

"At (Domain Stadium) it's quite difficult to get it out of your back 50, so you need to be quite fluent and make good decisions.

"We need to better with our ball use against the Eagles, absolutely."

Beveridge dismissed suggestions his side will need to turn the contest into a low-scoring slog to nullify the resurgent Eagles, but he doesn't anticipate the game will be a free-flowing shootout either.

The second-year coach is backing a game plan that's seen the Dogs prevail in hostile territory against Sydney and Port Adelaide.

"We won't go into the game trying to screw it down and contain the (Eagles), we'll go in trying to play our natural game," Beveridge said.

“(We'll employ our) game style that's won us some tight contests against very good opposition.

"It won't be our objective to make it a ‘six goal all’ type game.

"I don't think the game is going to bust open, (because) there's only been one team that’s really blown us out on the scoreboard during the year (a 57-point loss to Geelong in round 18).

"We believe we'll defend well, but we've got some plans in place to score as heavily as we can."