Dahlhaus has had a testing season. Taggers have been wearing him far tighter than in his first two AFL seasons, recognising him as the spark of the Western Bulldogs outfit.
At first he let it get him down, but slowly he has come to work it out and find a way to still play his own game, which is full of life, speed and skill.
Against West Coast, Dahlhaus had a career-high 29 disposals and kicked four goals, equaling his previous best. It was a return to top form, and was more satisfying given his new challenges in 2013.
"It's been a real tough year, but I've just been working hard in the background, doing extras, [working on] my craft," Dahlhaus said.
"There's been a lot of attention.
“Some games I think I just wasn't working hard enough and there were some easy skill errors. I've been trying to work on that, work on my fitness a bit more, and luckily enough it paid off."
Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney last month urged the 20-year-old to focus on the simple things, like being harder to play against and regaining his ferocious competitive streak.
McCartney saw signs of that returning last week against the Hawks, and witnessed the full thing against the Eagles.
"I'm just seeing Luke Dahlhaus, when the ball's on the ground, coming back to it and coming back around it with intensity," McCartney said.
"He's a good little player when he does come back to the ball and put himself in the contest.
"[He] did move away from that for a while. Without realising it [he] was 10 metres away from the contest instead of two or three, and then [he] spent a lot of time chasing his man because they were beating us at the drop of the ball."
Callum Twomey is a reporter for the AFL website. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.
