Western Bulldogs leader Taylor Duryea has described Thursday night’s loss to Carlton as a “tale of two halves”.

After a dominant opening term from the visitors, the Bulldogs were able to claw back from a 31-point deficit at half-time to get within two goals at Marvel Stadium, but it was ultimately too large a buffer to close.

“It’s very disappointing – we just put ourselves in too big of a hole to get out of,” Duryea said post-match.

“We had a good second half, but Carlton is a good side and with any good side, if you give them too much of a head-start, it’s pretty hard to peg back.

“Realistically it was a tale of two halves – we just couldn’t get it done.”

Duryea said despite starting the season 0-2 on the ladder, it isn’t all doom and gloom yet.

“It’s an even competition – you never know how it’s going to play out with ladder positioning and whatever else, but that’s not our main focus. We’re trying to play our best brand of footy.

“Tonight we had some good patches – the second half was really promising, so that’s something we can try to take into next week against Sydney, and continue to build on.”

The Bulldogs will host the Swans at Marvel Stadium next Thursday night as they look to register their inaugural win of season 2022.