Moore, who has kicked a whopping 113 goals for the season, shapes as the Bulldogs’ X-factor heading into the business end of the season and McMasters labelled him the man to stop in this weekend’s possible elimination final preview.

“We need to stop the supply to him,” McMasters said.

“The midfield will be a real key in doing that.

“We need to win as much footy as possible.

“I dare say we’ll have to break even, at the very least, which will be hard to do because they have one of the best midfields in the competition.

“It will be a really big challenge but one we’re looking forward to.

“At our best, we’re definitely confident we can be right there with them.”

Whorouly sits fourth on the ladder heading into the finals but will go in as the rank outsider at home against the competition’s third placed side.

A loss for the Lions on Saturday would all but certainly send them back to sixth on the table and book them a rematch with the Bulldogs in one of next week’s elimination finals.

Bonnie Doon and Bright should both record wins this weekend and will leapfrog Whorouly if they do and the Lions lose.

“It’s a good opportunity for us leading into the finals,” McMasters said.

“Obviously they are one of the competition’s big three teams right now.

“It will a tough match for us but we felt we were competitive last time.

“We finished 5.17 for the game, so we shot ourselves in the foot a bit.

“We walked away disappointed, obviously, but also with a feeling we can be more than competitive against them.”

McMasters said the Lions needed to be smarter inside 50.

“We made it easier for them last time by having a lot of shots from outside 50 which were rushed through; we need to be smarter,” he said.