Star midfielder Adam Treloar is proud of the way the Western Bulldogs turned things around against Brisbane.

Entering the clash off a five-day break, external concerns claimed there wouldn’t be enough time for the Dogs to rectify their disappointing opening two rounds of footy.

But that they did – sealing a hard-fought 14-point win over the Lions on Thursday night.

The result was led largely by Treloar (28 touches, five tackles, nine clearances) and the captain, Marcus Bontempelli, who finished with 28 disposals, seven clearances and seven inside 50s.

“Last week, (Bont) really tried to lift us around the ball and not many players came with him, but tonight he was unbelievable,” Treloar told Channel 7 post-game.

“When your captain and leader sets the standard like that, most people jump on board. To watch him up close was just unbelievable.

“He just challenged us to really bring the best of ourselves and that’s exactly what we did.”

While Treloar admits there’s still plenty of lessons to be learnt, he was proud to see the defenders be aggressive in their ball movement and impact.

“The beauty about our group is that we are all extremely motivated, regardless of the result,” Treloar said.

“When you stand next to your teammate and see the work that they put in, what they do to motivate each other – that’s all we really needed.

“We can still improve - I think offensively we’re still trying to learn what’s best for us, what way we want to kick it to the forwards, the way we want to move the ball back-half, but to keep a side like Brisbane to 50-odd points – who are a really high-scoring team that plays bold, attacking footy – we’re very pleased with that aspect of the game.”

“We wanted our defenders to be aggressive, and get off their man – if they do go for those 45 degree dangerous kicks that Brisbane like to do – we really wanted our defenders to get up and try and impact that play.

“We did that in patches against Melbourne in round one, and then last week we actually didn’t do it at all. Doing that motivates the next person to do that too.”

Treloar also took the opportunity to reflect on his battle with one Lion in particular – close friend and former Dog, Josh Dunkley – before looking ahead to the round four challenge against Richmond.

“It was a bit of a surreal moment,” Treloar said.

“I know I’ve only been really close with him the last couple of years, but to actually run out against him and play against him was pretty surreal.

“We knew we were coming up against a really good side tonight, so we really had to test to see where we were at.

“Next week we come up against Richmond, so it’s going to be an exciting battle.”