WESTERN Bulldogs superstar Marcus Bontempelli could find himself lined up next to Greater Western Sydney antagonist and Bulldogs rival Toby Greene if both are selected for the upcoming State of Origin Bushfire Relief Match.

It is a fascinating pairing given the angst between the Giants and the Bulldogs and, in particular, Greene.

Greene was charged with serious misconduct on Bontempelli in an incident in last year's elimination final, but escaped with a fine.

The star forward was involved in another controversial incident against the Dogs in 2017 when he kicked Luke Dahlhaus in the face while contesting the ball.

Despite Greene's checkered history against the Dogs, Bontempelli doesn't think being his teammate would be too awkward.

"We'd be all right," Bontempelli said. "That will be an interesting one, of course. It's a good opportunity to play with players from other teams."

One Dogs player that is unlikely to feature in the State of Origin game is midfielder Tom Liberatore, who is still recovering from knee surgery.

Liberatore and his partner Malia recently welcomed baby Oscar into the world, and the Dogs midfielder informed his teammates of the news in typical 'Libba' fashion.

"He sent a group text and in Libba fashion and made a joke and said he named him Tennys like Tennys Sandgren from Tennesee," Lipinski said."

"Then he said 'nah but seriously this is Oscar Liberatore'."

Bontempelli has an idea about what Liberatore's parenting style will be.

"An eccentric one I reckon. He is who he is and we love his personality," Bontempelli said.

"The little one will probably have an eccentric twist as well I reckon."

Liberatore has already returned to training and should be fully fit by the end of the month if all goes to plan with his rehabilitation.

Bontempelli said the Dogs took away two key messages from last year's elimination final loss to GWS: defend the whole ground and don't get outmuscled.

The Giants led the contested possession and clearance count comfortably in a 58-point win that kickstarted a run to the club's maiden Grand Final.

Bontempelli said the club won't use the game as motivation, but there were plenty of lessons to work on over the pre-season.

"Being able to defend the whole ground is something we could do a bit better," he said.

"Adding Keathy (Alex Keath) down back is a big one, we have to make sure we improve across the ground."

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Fellow midfielder Pat Lipinski echoed the thoughts of his leader and said the club has done a power of work to get better at that in 2020.

"We got scored against a little bit easily, particularly last year," Lipinski said.

"We've been working on it a lot through the pre-season. It's through communication and backing yourself and your teammates."

Strength also looks to be an area for improvement with that being an area to watch when the Dogs face the Giants in round three. 

"GWS overpowered us and outmuscled us in every single facet of the game," Lipinski said.

"There will be a bit of physicality in the game – with how they bullied us we'll be trying to get back a little bit."