COMPLACENCY won't be an issue for the Western Bulldogs in their clash with the winless Gold Coast in Darwin on Saturday night, says Dogs veteran Daniel Giansiracusa.

The Bulldogs are on a roll after winning three of their past four games to be one of four sides (along with North Melbourne, who they defeated on Sunday) with 3-4 records, just a game outside the top eight.

Meanwhile, the second-bottom Suns have lost each of their seven games and on Saturday gifted Greater Western Sydney its historic first win.

But Giansiracusa says the Bulldogs are not in a position to take any opponent lightly and they would be determined to stamp their authority on the game from the first bounce.

"We've got to take another step against a side in Gold Coast that are good in contested ball and stoppages," Giansiracusa said.

"I know they're young and they're just an up-and-coming side but even last year they were top four in that area, so we'll be looking to go hard in that area again on the weekend."

Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna criticised his players for their soft attitude in the clash with the Giants, but Giansiracusa doesn't expect such issues to be a factor for the Bulldogs against the Suns.

"You've seen [our] starts - the last two weeks have been pretty good. In today's footy, if you can get a [good] start not many teams come back. So we'll be focusing on that this week, for sure.

"We've won three games and we're in that middle pack. I think we're seeing improvements but we've got a long way to go. We're a very young, emerging side."

Asked if it felt like the Dogs were finally fulfilling the game-plan of coach Brendan McCartney, Giansiracusa said it was still very much a work in progress.

"Some days it's going to work, like it did yesterday, and other times it's going to be a challenge [because] teams put things in place that make it hard for you," he said.

Giansiracusa said he didn't know how long it would take for the Bulldogs list to reach its optimum level, but hinted it could happen sooner rather than later.

"We haven't put a ceiling on it from individuals to the team aspect," he said.

"'Macca' has brought into the place that every time you come to training you try to improve your game and that's all we've gone about [doing].

"We don't talk about wins and losses; all we talk about is getting those improvements from week to week. Who knows what can happen from there in terms of momentum."