TORY Dickson is playing at his fourth club in as many seasons and he seems to have finally found his niche, and his level.

After serving a month's penance in the VFL with Williamstown, the Western Bulldogs' mature-age recruit celebrated his return to AFL football with a game-high bag of four goals in the Dogs' 18-point win over North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday night.

The 24-year-old medium-sized forward hadn’t slotted a goal in either of his two previous AFL games, but it was a case of third game lucky.

Dickson was on fire from the outset, slotting two majors in the space of 10 minutes in the first term - both from contested marks in the 'hot spot'.

At quarter-time, in addition to the pair of goals, he had six possessions (including five contested) and three contested marks.

He nailed his fourth goal in the opening minute of the third term - via a terrific left-foot snap - to put the Bulldogs 25 points clear.

Dickson had just one more touch - a kick - but by then the damage had been done.

It was a composed, coming-of-age performance from Dickson, who endured a polar-opposite experience just eight days earlier when he kicked each of Williamstown's three goals in a crushing loss in the wet at Port Melbourne. Little wonder he relished playing under a roof for the first time.

"I used my strength and smarts to get a bit closer to goal, and it worked out," he said after the match.

Dickson said he had benefited from daily goalkicking practice.

"I practice a lot and I guess it pays off in games," he said. "I have little competitions with 'Gia' (Daniel Giansiracusa), which gets me up and about at training and keeps me very entertained."

Dickson, taken by the Bulldogs at No. 57 in last year's NAB AFL Draft, has taken a circuitous route to the AFL.

In 2009 he won the best and fairest award at VFL club Frankston under current Bulldogs forward coach Shannon Grant.

The pressure of raising a family (he and his partner have a four-year-old son Riley) prompted Dickson to put aside his football ambitions to work with his father.

In the meantime, though, he still managed to dominate the Eastern Football League, tallying 112 goals for Noble Park.

His desire to play in the AFL wouldn’t abate, and neither would the enthusiasm of others to help him make the grade. A driving force was Grant.

"I'd still been talked to and talked about. A couple of guys said I was still a chance of getting drafted (but) it wasn't that common that guys in local league got picked up. Shannon Grant said it's a better chance if you play well at VFL (level), and that's what got me back there," he said.

"He had enormous belief in me. 'Shagger' has been a massive influence. He got me to have a meeting with (Essendon coach) James Hird and (then assistant) Brendan McCartney, and worded me up to come (to the Bendigo Bombers) and I guess it's all worked out."

Dickson kicked 48 goals in 19 games for Bendigo last year and when McCartney and Grant aligned at Whitten Oval they conspired to make the forward's dream a reality.

After two rounds, Dickson was sent back to the VFL to work on providing a solid four-quarter effort, lift his workrate and concentrate on fulfilling his role. He produced a solid month with the Seagulls before earning a recall.

Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney was pleased with Dickson's response.

"He kicked four goals - he'll stay in the side if he keeps doing that," he said.

"He's a good package. He's powerful, he's got a good understanding of when to tackle and when not to, where to run; he's got a good handle on both sides of the game, which is really important for a forward. He's competitive too.

"He got a pretty clear message he wasn't coming back in unless he started to compete and play strongly, and he did that, and he got the results today."