Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade doubts the defender whose niggling caused Barry Hall's temper to fray for the only time this season will get away with repeating that approach.

Hall was fined $3000 by the AFL match review panel in May for putting North Melbourne defender Scott Thompson in a headlock during the round nine clash at Etihad Stadium.

Thompson is again expected to line up on the Bulldogs spearhead when the two sides meet at the same venue on Sunday.

But while Eade is anticipating some physical aggression from the Kangaroos, he doubts Thompson will be allowed to reproduce the antagonistic approach that got under Hall's skin 10 weeks ago.

At the time, Eade blamed umpires for giving Hall no "protection", with Thompson's attempts to annoy the powerful forward including kneeing him while he was doing up his bootlaces.

"I think that the AFL said at that particular time, they acknowledged there should have been a few free kicks in the early stages," Eade said on Tuesday.

"So I'll just let the umpires adjudicate and if they see something they'll obviously pay a free kick."

Eade said he did not feel any need to caution Hall against losing his cool.

"He'll be okay, there's no need to talk to him."

But he said the Kangaroos had long been a team who enjoyed applying physical pressure and with their finals hopes on the line, Sunday would be no different.

"For a long period of time, they've been a very competitive side who pride themselves on their workrate and their work ethic and there's no doubt they'll have a physical approach on the weekend," Eade said.

"I think most teams do and there's no doubt they don't shy away from that.

"But having said that, they're still in the fight for a top eight spot so they're going to give it everything they've got."

But Eade is confident about the Bulldogs' form, after their 82-point thrashing of Fremantle on Sunday, which lifted them into the top four at the Dockers' expense.

It was their fifth big win in the past six weeks, their only defeat in that time by three points to Hawthorn in round 14.

"With five weeks to go it's certainly a good place to be, where we're heading in the right direction," Eade said.

North must win to keep alive their hopes of reaching the finals.

The Kangaroos could be bolstered by the returns of midfielders Daniel Wells and Sam Wright, defenders Daniel Pratt and Scott McMahon and goalsneak Lindsay Thomas.

Wright is available after missing last Saturday night's loss to Essendon with concussion, while the other four players will be tested late this week.

Pratt (hamstring) and Wells (quad) were late withdrawals before the game against the Bombers, while McMahon and Thomas have been sidelined with knee problems.

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