The Western Bulldogs have signalled one change - possibly - to their defence for Friday night's AFL semi-final against Sydney.

The Bulldogs are smarting after last Friday night's qualifying-final belting from Hawthorn and coach Rodney Eade is certain they will rally.

He added any changes would be for team balance, not to shake up the side after such a poor performance.

They trained on Wednesday and Eade said there were no new injury problems.

"We're looking at at least one, maybe two (changes), so we'll have another meeting this afternoon," he said on Thursday morning.

"It's a matter of form and balance, but mainly balance - I don't think you need to have a knee-jerk reaction this time of year and make wholesale changes just for the sake of it.

"But it would certainly be more about the balance against the opposition."

Asked what they would seek from any changes to the side, Eade joked: "if we could get a power forward, a tall defender ..."

"If you look at the Swans forward line, it's very talented with some height that's very agile.

"You've got (Barry) Hall, (Adam) Goodes, (Ryan) O'Keefe. They play (Ted) Richards there as well - so it's more along that line."

Eade added his players had rebounded well after Friday night's poor loss.

They have dropped off in the last few weeks of the season and badly need a win Friday night to avoid a perception that their strong start to the year was wasted.

"It's been good. The guys have got pretty good character, really," Eade said.

"They were very down on themselves after their performance on Friday night, as you would expect, and you would hope.

"The form they have shown for most of the season, I don't think they want to let things slip and they want to atone for that, for any lost respect since Friday night.

"The way they trained yesterday and the way they've gone about it, I'm certainly expecting a very spirited performance."

Eade conceded forward Scott Welsh was brought up in selection discussions, but he will keep his place in the team.

"His name has come up, I've spoken about Scott," Eade said.

"He's kicked a five against them last time and then there's probably a game or two where he hasn't kicked a lot of goals, but he's had 17-18 possessions in a different role, playing further up.

"His last two or three have been down, there's no doubt about that.

"He has finals experience, he's a talented player, he can kick goals and he can take marks, so I would think with the way he can play, he'll probably stay in."

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