EASTON Wood expected a better response from his team against West Coast on Sunday, but the Western Bulldogs captain says it's too early to change the club's faltering game plan.

The Bulldogs have been perhaps the biggest disappointment of 2018's opening two rounds.

After finishing 10th last season, the 2016 premiers were widely expected to rebound this season.

But they were belted by Greater Western Sydney by 82 points in round one and were little better against the Eagles, going down by 51 points at their home ground, Etihad Stadium.

Wood told AFL Nation on Monday the Bulldogs had been focused on moving the ball more creatively against the Eagles, but had too often left themselves badly exposed when they turned the ball over.

Asked whether he had expected his team to rebound more strongly from their round one loss, Wood said he had, but also noted he hadn't expected his team to perform so badly against GWS either.

The Bulldogs skipper said it would be "definitely easier said than done" for the Bulldogs to rediscover what made them such a good team in 2016, but stressed it was far too early for wholesale changes to their game plan. 

"We've done some great work over the pre-season so we have to still take solace in that and back in what we've been doing, even though it hasn't worked yet," Wood said.

"We just need to be able to keep the faith and keep that consistent head because in footy nothing's ever as good as it seems and nothing's ever as bad as it seems.

"We've got to be able to find a way to get back to [our 2016 form] and be able to inspire the boys to have that energy and to really feed off each other, which we're not getting at the moment.

"That starts with me as captain and the leaders to be able to show the boys the way. We're just not getting that as well as we'd like at the moment, but that's our challenge to be able to find that."

Wood identified ball use and contested possession as two areas the Bulldogs needed to address urgently.

"At the moment, when we turn it over we're just defending that open play (and) that's kind of sapping a few of the boys," Wood said.

"(We need) to be able to connect on those plays a bit better because you need those little wins. They build momentum and you can build pressure and get that good feeling out of that, which we just haven't been able to do. 

"We've got to have that intensity up around the ball. We can't wait, we've got to be able to get in first and initiate and create, then build the energy off that and get a better result."