Going away from the Western Bulldogs defensive style of play was the difference in the loss to Carlton according to forward Luke Dahlhaus.

“[It was] an up and down game which is not our style,” Dahlhaus said.

“At three quarter time Macca (Senior Coach Brendan McCartney) said to get it back on our terms with the repeat stoppage sort of footy which we are used to and we are good at.

“I think we struggled to get that sort of game style and it cost us the game.”

The Bulldogs were competitive throughout the game but fell away in key statistics, finishing -14 in tackles and -16 in contested possessions.

“That comes down to the game style that we were playing,” he said. 

“When we got it on our terms we kicked a few goals and energy was up.”

Within striking range at the final change, the Bulldogs produced six scoring shots in the fourth quarter – yet only converted one.

Dahlhaus said he was expecting a stronger performance against Adelaide next week, focusing on the defensive areas of the game that the Bulldogs pride themselves on.

“We want to have a full four quarter effort not just that one quarter… we’ll go into next week and hopefully start well,” he said.