It was an almost game for Luke Beveridge’s men on Sunday against the Giants, with the Bulldogs missing the potent edge forward of centre that had been seen in recent weeks.

While the margin never stretched beyond six goals at Spotless Stadium, the Giants held the upper hand for all but a few minutes in the second quarter when the Bulldogs edged in front.

"They felt like they were in the game for long periods but at no stage did we really threaten," Beveridge said.

"It is a bit of a numb feeling after this one.

"Even with six minutes to go there was only four goals in it and I still felt like we were a chance."

However, the visitors didn't capitalise and were let down by some inefficiencies with ball in hand.

By contrast, Giants spearhead Jeremy Cameron finished with five goals for the winners.

"All in all we were a bit messy with the ball and their sort of star-quality forwards, particularly Jeremy Cameron, got the better of us," Beveridge said.

"Foot and our hands weren't as good as they had been in recent times and we gave the ball back to them blatantly a few times."

"We just at no stage could get any momentum on the scoreboard ourselves to really threaten. We just couldn't have the quality in our game that we tend to bring most weeks."

The Bulldogs, who ended the round in fifth spot with a 6-3 win-loss record, face Collingwood at the MCG next Sunday afternoon.