Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says his side missed an opportunity on Saturday afternoon, as it was outplayed by North Melbourne.

The Bulldogs have struggled against teams below them on the ladder in 2019, with losses to the Gold Coast Suns, Kangaroos and Carlton – who sat 16^th, 17^th and 18^th respectively before round 10.

“It doesn’t matter who you play – we feel like we can win every game,” Beveridge said post-game. 

“It’s definitely a missed opportunity, but as I said, they played better than us.

“On our road to being a better team, we’ve got to be consistent at more and more things and we weren’t today.

“We’ll just need to lick our wounds, focus on West Coast and see if we can win over there.”

Beveridge highlighted the impact of opposition ruckman Todd Goldstein, and the overall midfield battle, as key factors in the game.

“(It’s) disappointing, obviously,” he said.

“The way we started, we gave them first access. We were dominated in the ruck in the first half and it gave them momentum. There were certain parts of the game we struggled with partly due to that.

“It was probably another really challenging learning afternoon for some of our younger players.

“We didn’t get the output we needed from that inside mid brigade until some of the stages late in the game. 

“In the margins of the game and the physicality of it, and the spread away and in the ball use and efficiency, they got the better of us and it’s extremely disappointing.”