MIDFIELDER Daniel Giansiracusa has contributed to the growing rivalry between his Western Bulldogs and St Kilda, saying that the two sides "don't really like each other".

The Bulldogs won this year's NAB Cup grand final but the Saints got the spoils on Friday night with a gritty three-point win at Etihad Stadium.

Giansiracusa agreed that the rivalry with St Kilda had intensified in recent years, especially in the wake last year's preliminary final, which the Saints won by seven points.

"I think both teams don't really like each other," he told afl.com.au.

However, given the latest result and the Dogs' surrender of a 17-point three-quarter time lead, Giansiracusa believes his side has some work to do before they meet again.

"They have had the spoils the last couple of times so we have to learn from tonight and next time we meet hopefully it goes the other way for us," he said.

"All credit to them. They kept fighting."

Giansiracusa and his teammates were left to ponder what might have been, as the Saints kicked three unanswered goals in the final term.

While dismissing the thought that the Dogs simply ran out of legs, Giansiracusa was livid with the amount of errors his team made in the fourth quarter.

"At critical times we made some dumb mistakes," he said.

Despite the loss, Giansiracusa was able to take some positives from the performance into next week's must-win class against a red-hot Melbourne.

"It was an intense game. I think our intensity and pressure [was good], you can't question that," he said.

"We will take the good things out of it, take the things we need to improve on and move on to Melbourne next week."