Aaron Naughton in action during the Western Bulldogs' clash against Gold Coast in round 11, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has rubbished suggestions to send star forward Aaron Naughton to defence as a way to boost their premiership credentials.

But Beveridge concedes the Bulldogs have to find ways to boost their scoring power following last week's seven-point loss against Gold Coast.

North Melbourne great David King insists Naughton should switch down back to bolster the defence with the Dogs seemingly blessed with tall forward options in Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Rory Lobb.

But Beveridge said the Bulldogs were more than settled down back with resurgent Liam Jones in All-Australian contention in his return to the Whitten Oval.

Naughton has booted 21 goals this season, but has managed just three from his last three matches.

14:58

The 23-year-old started his career as a key defender before successfully switching forward in 2019.

"So he (Naughton) has kicked (more than) 100 goals over the last three years, and he's probably been our most instrumental key forward, but he (King) suggested he goes back?" Beveridge said on Friday.

"The thing is that we've got a lot of depth with our key backs and we've been pretty happy. 

"Aaron's been an amazing player for us, and he usually gets the opposition's best defender so we've got to do our best to help him play his best footy.

"He's not going behind the ball any time soon."

00:39

Despite sitting sixth on the ladder, the Bulldogs are ranked 13th in attack this season, behind teams outside the top eight like Sydney, Greater Western Sydney and the Suns.

"We're not scoring enough," Beveridge lamented.

"Our intent is to score more. But we can't turn our mind away from the fundamentals that are going to get us there and we've still got a fair bit of work to do."

The Bulldogs will host Geelong at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night with the desperate Cats 5-6 and on a three-game losing streak.

Key midfielder Adam Treloar will return to face Geelong after missing three weeks with a hamstring injury.

Adam Treloar evades the tackle of Daniel Lloyd during the Western Bulldogs' clash against Greater Western Sydney in round eight, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

Beveridge conceded it would be tricky to fit Treloar back into the midfield mix with Marcus Bontempelli, Tom Liberatore, Bailey Smith, Jack Macrae and Caleb Daniel.

"All six of them will play this week and then that's our challenge to manage their impact on the game," he said.

"We can't fit them all into that inside midfield brigade all the time so they'll need to share some responsibilities here and there."