Star midfielder Jack Macrae is confident the Western Bulldogs can recapture their best football on Friday night against Port Adelaide.

The Bulldogs enter the important clash after consecutive defeats against Essendon and Hawthorn, needing a win to secure a place in the top four on the eve of finals.

Macrae said it starts with the midfield contest, after losing that battle to the Hawks.

With Adam Treloar and Josh Dunkley coming back into the side over the past month, the Bulldogs have their starting midfield mix back at their disposal.

“It probably hasn’t been our best (couple of weeks), especially on the weekend against Hawthorn,” Macrae told 3AW Sportsday this week.

“It does start with us at the contest.

“We’ve probably let ourselves down with the nuts and bolts of it, just winning the footy at the source and we probably haven’t been as effective going forward with it as well.

“It’s been good to have ‘Ads’ and ‘Dunks’ back – but it’s probably getting back to our best footy and winning it from the source and taking it from there.”

Macrae said despite results the past fortnight, the Bulldogs haven’t lost any confidence in their game style.

He believes it’s a quick fix to get back to the football they want to be playing.

“We don’t have to look too far back for what our best footy is,” Macrae said.

“We’ve done it for probably 20 weeks of the season this year.

“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel or anything this week, it’s just winning it back at the source and getting back to the basics and fundamentals of our game.”