Besieged coaches Rodney Eade and Neil Craig have vowed to fight for their jobs on the eve of their potentially career-defining AFL clash.

Eade's Western Bulldogs and Craig's Crows meet at Etihad Stadium on Friday night with the tenure of both coaches under threat.

The clubs have just three wins each but Eade, whose contract expires at season's end, scotched speculation he would quit if the Dogs lost to Adelaide.

"I'm going to stick through," Eade told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

"If the club thinks it's better that way (quitting) and you get a tap on the shoulder well, fine, you do what is best for the club.

"But from my point of view I'm here for the long haul."

The Bulldogs, beaten preliminary finalists in the past three seasons, have slid to 13th spot, one position above the under-performing Crows.

Craig said speculation about his future would remain until the Crows consistently won games.

"I try not to make it a distraction because I can't afford to," Craig told reporters in Adelaide.

" ... You are not immune to it because you know it's there.

"But you need to develop the tools to keep it at bay so the noise doesn't get in to take your focus away from what you're meant to do."

Preseason, Craig's contract - also due to cease at season's end - was replaced when he was made a member of Adelaide's staff.

Crows chairman Rob Chapman, in rare public comments this week, said Craig had "unequivocal" support of the club's board.

"I don't need to take heart (from Chapman's comments) because I am in constant communication with those guys, that was probably more for outside our club rather than for me," Craig said.

"I haven't got an unconditional job here, I haven't got a job for life.

"I have great trust that the footy club will make the best decision for the footy club in terms of my situation here.

"And I mean that in both ways - if they think I need to continue in this job and I'm happy to do it, they'll tell me that; if they think I need to finish this job for whatever reason, they will tell me that.

"And that situation can happen very quickly, they can get a pen and go `zap' and it can finish tomorrow with minimal disruption and minimal cost to our footy club."

While Craig believed Adelaide's poor form made talk of reaching the finals redundant, Eade said finals for the Bulldogs effectively start on Friday night.

"We have just got to win and if you win, you can roll on to next week, and we're going to try to win as many games as we can," Eade said.

"Even if it's mathematically impossible at any stage not to make the finals, we're still going out to win as many as we can."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP