The future of 2013 All-Australian ruckman Will Minson remains "secure" at the Whitten Oval despite the veteran again being overlooked at Western Bulldogs selection, according to Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge.

The sixth-placed Dogs face the seventh-placed Roos in what shapes as a potential elimination final preview at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, and have resisted the temptation to include Minson, meaning they enter the game against the league's standout ruckman Todd Goldstein without a recognised ruckman of their own.

Minson, 30, is contracted for 2016, but hasn't played an AFL game since round 15, after which he was dropped for the second time this season.

Nevertheless, Beveridge insisted that Minson would be remaining at the club.

"Every week we consider Will and our ruck situation," Beveridge said on Friday.

"All it says is that he's next in line or the one after that at the moment. Will's a contracted player into 2016, so he's a required player. His long-term future is secure."

The Bulldogs will instead employ tall utility Jordan Roughead and key forward Jack Redpath to try to deal with Goldstein, who is among the favourites for the Brownlow Medal. Beveridge elaborated on why his side would confront Goldstein in such a manner.

"We've probably gone in different in recent times with how we've played our rucks and it's really worked for us in certain areas," he said. "We'll need to be at our best to combat Goldstein tomorrow and we'll have plans in place to do that."

Meanwhile AFL chief Gillon McLachlan said that the Dogs would almost certainly play any final against a Victorian team at the MCG rather than Etihad Stadium, the Dogs' home ground and where they have excelled.

"Even if the Doggies are hosting a home final against the Kangaroos [and not Richmond], we think that's 60,000 people, probably 60,000 plus. So I find it tricky to see, if they were playing another Melbourne club, that they wouldn't be at the MCG because we think it would be a big crowd," McLachlan told 3AW on Friday morning.

McLachlan was non-committal about the Bulldogs' chances of hosting an interstate rival in a final at Etihad.

"We'll have a look. Really it could only be Adelaide and I'll talk to the guys. I've certainly looked at the Melbourne scenarios though and I think they'd be at the 'G."

The Bulldogs are eight points and more than 14 per cent clear inside the eight with two games to play, but Beveridge wouldn't discuss the finals until they were mathematical certainties.

"Until we can say yes, we're absolutely definitely there ... everyone probably thinks I'm an idiot because I won't acknowledge it but we can still miss out," Beveridge said.

"We really want to beat North Melbourne and at the end of the game say, `We're in there now so we have to get the job done'."