Under the glare of Friday night lights, the Western Bulldogs are about to learn the reality of their AFL premiership aspirations.

The Bulldogs will go into the Etihad Stadium clash against unbeaten Geelong knowing they are capable, but equally aware they must produce their absolute best against the league pacesetters.

As much as top side St Kilda have stunned the AFL this year, the second-placed Cats remain the main point of comparison for everyone.

If you can beat the 2007 premiers, the grand finalists of the last two years, you become the real deal.

"We will find out where we're at in the season - we're 5-3, but we haven't beaten too many top-eight sides just yet," said Bulldogs midfielder Matthew Boyd.

"It will be great to see who steps up and who's ready to play."

The 'Dogs have had an interesting start to the season - an awesome round-one over Fremantle sparked a three-game winning run, followed by a three-game losing streak.

Then came the outstanding away win over Adelaide and a narrow success over willing Melbourne.

But in reality, the five victories have come against the current five bottom teams on the ladder.

"We lost three in a row ... but we didn't think it was through lack of effort or lack of intensity, it was more skill execution," Boyd said.

"It's something we've put a lot of emphasis on in the last couple of years, to use the skills we have.

"We don't think it's too far away, we just want a four-quarter, consistent effort on (Friday night) and that's the only way you're going to beat a team like Geelong."

Boyd said the Bulldogs will try to turn the stadium into a speed dome on Friday night, making use of one of their most potent assets.

"We have to mirror that effort (of Geelong's) and do the same sorts of things - and use our skills, use our pace," he said.

"It's a real asset of our's that hasn't been used so far this year."

After his injury-interrupted start to the season, Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney showed strong signs against the Crows a fortnight ago.

Cooney and Ryan Griffen, who has received some criticism for his form this week, must fire for the Bulldogs to have a chance against Geelong.

"In the Adelaide game, it was great to see him bursting through the lines and using his pace and his strengths, which we really need," Boyd said of Cooney.

"It's still going to take a little bit of time to get him back up and firing, but he offers more than just kicking goals and 30 possessions.

"He offers a lot of defensive pressure through his pace and that's what we really want from him."

Both teams were forced to make several changes through injuries.

The Bulldogs included Tim Callan, Shaun Higgins and Callan Ward to replace Robert Murphy (hamstring), Andrejs Everitt (foot) and Dylan Addison (knee).

The Cats recalled big guns Gary Ablett and Paul Chapman, along with Ryan Gamble and David Johnson.

They were unable to consider the suspended Cameron Mooney, Shannon Byrnes (hamstring) and Darren Milburn (ankle), while Tom Lonergan was dropped.

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