The Bulldogs are mourning the death of reserves footballer Nathan Williams, who passed away in a car accident last Sunday night.

The loss of their friend and team-mate puts football into perspective, but the Bulldogs would love to honour Williams with a victory against Eaglehawk on Saturday.

"It's been a very sad situation for Gisborne this week and everyone at Eaglehawk is certainly thinking of them,'' Eaglehawk coach Travis Matheson said.

The Hawks and Bulldogs met in the qualifying final a fortnight ago, with Eaglehawk producing a dominant second-half to win by 38 points.

Gisborne closed down the Hawks' running game in the first half, but once the game opened up in the third quarter the reigning premiers blew the Dogs off the park.

"You look at what we could have done better in the first half and touch on the things that we did do well in the second half,'' Matheson said.

"Hopefully, we can sustain good footy for four quarters. In both our finals we've struggled to put together four quarters of good footy."

The Hawks made two changes to the team which suffered a 12-goal defeat to Strathfieldsaye in last Saturday's second semi-final.

Key defender Oscar Madden returns from an ankle injury as a straight swap for the injured Tim Hill.

Defender Tyler Miles returns from the reserves to replace Jarryd Pertzel. The Hawks decided against playing Trent Bacon (hamstring) and Sam Harper (arm).

"Tyler will sure us up down back and give us some flexibility with what we do off the bench,'' Matheson said.

"We could have risked Trent and Sam, but on the back of what they've done there'd be a question mark over whether they'd get through the game.

"It wasn't a risk we were willing to take."

Gisborne has its own injury worries leading into the preliminary final.

Ethan Minns (knee) and Matt Goodyear (broken nose) were forced from the field in the first semi-final win over Golden Square.

Both were named in the Gisborne squad of 22.

Minns has had a career-best season, while Goodyear is hugely important to the Dogs' midfield mix.

Goodyear didn't play in the qualifying final and Eaglehawk siblings Jesse and Brodie Collins dominated the clearances.

The Hawks piled on 10 goals to two after half-time in the qualifying final on the back of midfield dominance.

The Bulldogs will be looking for their small forwards and midfielders to hit the scoreboard on Saturday.

They only had three players - Pat McKenna, Brad Bernacki and Minns - kick goals in the qualifying final.

It's been an up and down week for Bulldogs' coach Clinton Young.

Young, who was unavailable for comment on Friday, and his wife Bec welcomed the arrival of their first son this week - Charlie Jack.

Saturday's preliminary final starts at 3.10pm.

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