Western Bulldogs moved into the top eight on Sunday night after dismantling bottom of the table West Coast Eagles at Marvel Stadium.
The Dogs won by 94 points and have knocked Gold Coast to ninth, but the Suns have two matches up their sleeves against top nine opponents.
Effectively, barring major upsets, Western Bulldogs' clash with Fremantle in Round 24 will be a shootout for the last position in the eight.
“The scoreboard tells the story about the contest,” coach Luke Beveridge said.
“Their stoppage work was impressive enough, they haven't had the best outcomes there throughout the course of the year and our guys have been pretty good so I thought they challenged us in that area.
“On an afternoon where it was important we didn't underestimate their willingness…it's a promising day on a number of fronts.”
The Bulldogs have won their last four games, with their scary blend of goal kickers on show again on Sunday evening.
Opposition coach Andrew McQualter noted the difficulty in containing the hosts' forward firepower in the lead-in and it proved to be the case.
Given plenty of supply, key pillars Aaron Naughton and Sam Darcy kicked three each, while Rhylee West, Sam Davidson, Marcus Bontempelli and Jordan Croft also managed multiples.
Croft, in particular, was impressive on debut.
He could have had a goal with his first kick at AFL level, which followed a huge contested mark, but Naughton marked his kick on the goal line.
He finished with two goals from four shots and showed a strong pair of hands to create a good selection headache for the coaching staff for the rest of the season and beyond, with fellow marking forward Buku Khamis also impressing in the VFL.
“He did really well, didn't he? Three contested marks inside that 50 area, competed well, he's different," Beveridge said.
“He's a different key forward or back, he's mostly a forward at the moment, he can really run and so he'll challenge the opposition on a different front.
“I think (in) his debut game and (given) Sam and Aaron didn't have it their own way, I thought their key backs, including Reuben Ginbey were pretty dour…so for Jordan to jump out was really good.”
“He's had a really good month, so he's earned his spot...His family are really proud, pretty emotional about his first game, he really contributed."
Beveridge offered an insight into how his side plans to tackle the game against Fremantle, after getting defeated by them by 16 points earlier in the season.
“Ultimately, as you saw tonight, we've been reasonably good on rebound from d50 to forward 50 and in scoring, we're pretty close to the best during the last part of the year,” Beveridge said.
“So it's not something we've struggled at but there were times this afternoon where we took options that went to contests, longer options that put us under a significant amount of pressure.
“We need to make sure we make good decisions but we play with a freedom and a lightness to make sure our real strengths come out in our game.”
