JACOB Weitering is relishing the challenge of the Bulldogs on Thursday night — and one key forward in particular.

Speaking on SEN's Whateley, Weitering cast an eye towards tomorrow night's clash with the Dogs, confirming that he’ll line up against the Dogs key forward in Aaron Naughton.

It's an 'old school' one-on-one match-up between the duo, with Weitering coming off another outstanding season while Naughton produced a four-goal haul against the reigning premiers in Round 1.

From an individual perspective, Weitering will be hoping for a similar showing to what he produced against the Dogs last year, collecting 23 disposals and seven contested marks.

“It’ll be a head-to-head battle for sure,” Weitering said. 

“He’s jumping at the ball, he’s kicking well and to do it against the best side in the competition shows that he’s had a good pre-season, albeit, a limited one with those two teams coming back late: it’ll be a good contest and I’m looking forward to it.” 

While there were a lot of positives to take out of last week's performance against Richmond, Weitering stressed the need for consistency ahead of not just Round 2, but the ensuing rounds to come.

Speaking on the Round 1 win, Weitering was hopeful that one change which shone through will flow into this week's game.

“I’m feeling a lot more comfortable that there’s only 40 inside 50s coming in as opposed to an average of 55 or 60 last year,” he said. 

“There’s been a lot of change but the boys have done a terrific job at accepting that and attacking it and you’ve seen a little snapshot of it against Richmond and the way we want to play.” 

Keen to replicate a positive performance through the middle last week, Weitering admitted that the Bulldogs were going to make it tough to keep their momentum going. 

“It’ll be a tough test for us. They’re an incredibly good side, a very good handball side: their handball efficiency was number one this week. It’s going to be a big contest in the middle,” he said. 

“If the mids can do their job and keep it to 40 inside 50s again, I’ll be a very, very happy man.” 

Another notable change for the Blues this week will be Ash Hansen stepping in as interim coach.

Having spent the last nine years working at the Dogs, Hansen's positive influence since arriving at the Club was noted by Weitering, who is hoping that his side can put in a good performance in an important milestone for the Senior Assistant Coach.

“Ash Hansen is probably the right man for the job this weekend coming up against his old mob in the Western Bulldogs,” he said. 

“He’s our forward line coach, he’s been very active during the week, he manages most of our training runs and the drills that we do. He’s always got a pretty prominent voice throughout the week and the boys are loving having him as the head coach for this week.” 

While having Hansen at the front has been a good change, Weitering assured there had been no lack of contact from Michael Voss, who has been empowering the senior leaders to step up in his absence. 

“The way 'Vossy' has gone about it this pre-season, he’s been very influential, he’s a leader of men but another strength of his is his ability to delegate,” he said.

“‘Vossy’ has been in contact with most of the leaders. He’s put it all in our hands and we’ll try and lead from the front, Ash will do the same and we’ll try and get the job done for him on Thursday night.”