Western Bulldogs head coach Nathan Burke says his group will be able to take plenty of lessons out of Friday’s loss to North Melbourne.

The defeat was the Bulldogs’ first of the season – going down by 15 points to a high-pressure Kangaroos outfit at Punt Road Oval in front of a capacity crowd.

Burke said there were a number of factors that contributed to the result, but is confident it was a once-off effort.

“The biggest difference was just controlling the corridor – it was mentioned at quarter-time, at half-time, and at three-quarter time that we needed to get in control of that, but we never actually did through any stage of the game,” he told media post-match.

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Nathan Burke | Post Match (RD5)

Nathan Burke speaks to the media following our first loss of the season.

“We’ve had a lot of pressure this season – when we played Freo they pressured us, GWS pressured us a lot, even Port Adelaide over there, but when it’s across the whole ground thought, it can become a bit contagious.

“We started fumbling through the middle, and then we started fumbling up forward so it was just one of those days.

“The good thing is I know that’s not them – it’s not the way they play the game. It was just a bit of a one-off and it cost us.”

Burke commended his backline for their ability to deal with the influx, led by Katie Lynch who finished with 22 disposals and seven marks in a dominant display.

“I thought on the whole, our backline – who are very young – stood up really well,” Burke said.

“Issy Grant and Sarah Hartwig did some really good things, and Katie Lynch had 22 possessions and was outstanding.

“If (I had to pick) a part of the ground I was most happy with, it’s probably our backline.”

The Bulldogs will next host Geelong at MARS Stadium on Saturday afternoon, before matches against Melbourne (Casey Fields), St Kilda (MARS), West Coast (Mineral Resources Park) and Carlton (IKON Park) to close out their season seven home-and-away campaign.

“Every win you have brings you closer to your first loss – (ours) just so happened to be today,” Burke said.

“There’s a lot of really good learnings out of today - while you always love to win, I think losing today will set us up really well for the last five games.”