Western Bulldogs senior coach Nathan Burke is hopeful his side can keep in control of their finals destiny this season.

A 15-point win over St Kilda in Pride Round means the Bulldogs sit a game clear in eighth spot, with two rounds of the home-and-away season to come.

Burke said it’s a nice spot to be in, compared to other seasons where they’ve relied on other results to fall their way.

“The good thing is that (our finals spot) is in our hands - we win the next two games and we’ll get to play the week after,” Burke told media post-match.

“It’s as simple as that. If we drop some that we shouldn’t, that will make things tough.

“We’ve been in this position in the last couple of years, but this is probably the game that we’d have dropped, which put us behind the eight-ball and chasing to get in. To win today is really pleasing.

“It was a real arm wrestle – but we knew it was going to be. We set ourselves up for that.

“We thought if we could just keep plugging away, at some stage we’ll break down the wall and that’s what we did.”

The Bulldogs’ win over St Kilda could have been much greater too, if it were not for some inaccuracy in front of goal leaving them with a 4.11 (35) score.

“It’s a double-edged sword – I’m focusing on how we can get (shots on goal) and thinking ‘hey that’s great we’re having a shot’ to then ‘oh we missed’,” Burke explained.

“After a while you sort of go ‘okay let’s start kicking them’ so I try and focus on what we are doing right to actually have those shots on goal - which is probably the most important thing.

“We’ve just got to keep going to the well and that’s what we did – we didn’t give up.”

The Bulldogs’ next challenge will come against West Coast at Mineral Resources Park on Saturday afternoon.