Skipper Easton Wood believes the Western Bulldogs’ pressure needs to lift if they’re to bounce back this weekend against the West Coast Eagles.

The Bulldogs lost to North Melbourne by 25 points on Saturday, despite a final-term fightback.

Wood says his side was beaten around the contest – an area they have been strong in this season, particularly in wins.

“They had some real dominance inside – I think Goldstein had a pretty decent game, he had a big impact,” he said post-game

“They were able to get us on the outside which was disappointing.

“We’ve been really good in that area, being able to contain if we lose a stoppage we’ve at least been able to pressure and force them wide and that kind of thing. 

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“I felt they were probably able to come at us a bit too openly at times, so obviously we’ll need to remedy that.”

After trailing by almost a game-high 32 points late in the third term, the Bulldogs bit back.

Two quick goals before the final change, followed by four consecutive goals to start the last term saw the Bulldogs regain the lead for the first time since the opening stanza. 

“The boys fought it out, and we put ourselves in a position to win the game in the last quarter,” Wood said.

“The big positive is the start to the last quarter where I think we kicked four in a row in a really short amount of time. 

“That was a huge lift in the middle of the ground.

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“Zaine going into the ruck really gave us a great contest, and some of Bonti’s work in there was really special. The way he was able to be clean and then find targets out of there. 

“We just couldn’t maintain that as we probably would have liked, (there were) a few contests here and there that we needed to be a lot better in.”