With Jack Redpath making his first senior appearance for season 2016, the Bulldogs forward set-up will have a different look when the ball is bounced on Saturday night, but assistant coach Rohan Smith says the side will need a team-wide effort to kick a winning score.

“The defenders can attack and when we have the footy, take the game on and get down and score," he told westernbulldogs.com.au.

“We need our midfielders to score more and we just need to be cleaner with the footy. 

“I think we’ve given our forwards some really good looks inside 50 but our last kick in there has been really poor or we’ve had some open plays where we’ve had a clear target, where we’ve missed the target, and it’s gone out of bounds. 

“So, it’s just our ball use needs to be tidied up a little bit from last week and that’s something we’ve had a look at.”

While the Bulldogs are conceding just 57.3 points per contest in 2016, Smith said it’s a credit to the Dogs’ 18-man defensive system rather than just the back six doing all of the heavy lifting.

“When you look at defence, and people say we’re the number one for stopping sides, it’s not just the defenders, I think it’s the way the whole team defends. 

“And that’s been really positive the way the forwards put pressure on, the midfielders are really good at putting pressure on and hunting the opposition, and the defenders are doing really well as well.” 

With Eddie Betts (20 goals), Tom Lynch (14 goals) and skipper Taylor Walker (11 goals) all threats around goal, Smith says the Dogs will need to be ready for the challenge if they’re to come away with the four points.

“Their whole forward line has been a key to them and our defenders will need to be on right from the start of the game.

“But we do rely on our forwards and our midfield putting that pressure on and that’ll be the same focus for us this week.”