IT WOULD have been an act of theft if the Western Bulldogs had defeated West Coast on Saturday after being outplayed for three quarters, according to Dogs coach Luke Beveridge.
Thrashed in the clearances and lacking composure with the ball, the Bulldogs still managed to claw their way back from 29 points down early in the final quarter to draw within a point with five minutes remaining.
But a stoppage goal to West Coast ruckman Nathan Vardy snuffed out any hope of an unlikely victory.
"We'd be sitting here, if we had won, saying 'We got away with one'," Beveridge said.
The Bulldogs were outscored by 44 points from the clearances – their worst result for the season – losing the clearance count by 15 after conceding 12 consecutive clearances during the third quarter.
"We got smashed through the midfield. It's hard to win a game when you get beaten that convincingly and ultimately that affects your forward play," Beveridge said.
The loss leaves the Bulldogs just outside the eight with seven wins and a trip to Adelaide to play the Crows on Friday night.
Given they have not won on the road so far in 2017, they will go into the game as underdogs.
Despite many questioning whether the Bulldogs could go back-to-back this season after their surprise flag last year, Beveridge said his team's hunger was not an issue.
"I am never going to question our team and our individuals' hunger. I've just got to try to improve them," Beveridge said.
WATCH: Luke Beveridge's full post-match media conference
Beveridge was aware that West Coast's Andrew Gaff was the main Eagle causing the Bulldogs damage but he thought his influence would be diluted if the Bulldogs improved their ball use.
"He really capitalised on how we used the ball and he was in the right areas so we just felt if we could tidy our ball use up, it minimises what he is doing. It didn't turn out that way for the whole game," Beveridge said.
He said just having a player sit on Gaff was not the preferred option.
"He plays inside. He plays on the wing and forward [so] ultimately he is not anywhere long enough for you to settle something that doesn't pull you apart so that was good for them and obviously not for us," Beveridge said.
