Coach Luke Beveridge’s work in progress will take a massive step forward if the Western Bulldogs can engineer an upset AFL win over Collingwood.

While the Magpies will start favourites, the Bulldogs are a solid chance in their only Friday night fixture this season.

The Bulldogs have shown signs of life so far and but for a bad first quarter last Sunday against Gold Coast, could well be 3-0 coming into the MCG clash.

The upset loss to the Suns showcased the Bulldogs’ biggest problem – a lack of polish.

But Beveridge noted Collingwood are also far from peak form and last weekend’s loss in the grand final rematch against West Coast left the Magpies with a 1-2 record.

“I don’t think we really have a handle on the form line of the competition yet; even where Collingwood are at in the scheme of things, no one really knows,” Beveridge said.

“We’ve got a good formula and I think the players believe in it. The system-based aspects of what we do are working.

“It’s just the icing on the cake or just rounding off those edges, that’s what we need to do on both the attacking and the defensive side of the game.”.

With premiership midfielder Tom Liberatore firing on all cylinders after an injury-ruined 2018, the Bulldogs have shown glimpses of their ferocious 2016 best in winning the contested ball and clearance counts in each of their games.

The Bulldogs will regain running defender Jason Johannisen and Travis Varcoe is back for the Magpies.

Star Magpies duo Jeremy Howe and Darcy Moore look set to take on the Bulldogs despite their respective illness and injury concerns.

Howe missed Wednesday’s training session after reporting flu symptoms, while Moore rolled an ankle during the loss to the Eagles.

Coach Nathan Buckley has put the onus on his much-hyped midfielders to improve after being comfortably outpointed by their West Coast counterparts.

“We’ve been a bit hot and cold this year,” Buckley said.

“We need to just (be) getting to work and improving.”