Western Bulldogs stalwart Daniel Cross was full of praise of his teammates for the sustained effort and competiveness in the gruelling win against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The 18 point victory saw the Dogs play out the full four quarters consistently going hard at the contest and applying pressure until the final siren - a feat they were unable to achieve just last week when a drop in intensity in the final term cost them dearly against Collingwood.

Watch Daniel Cross' highlights from the Western Bulldogs 18-point victory over North Melbourne on the media player above or on the Club Mobile App.

Cross said that every one of the Bulldogs players stepped up in what was ultimately a real team effort.

“Two sides were bashing a lot of bodies together but we came out on top in that area,” Cross said.

“We really rate North Melbourne with their competitive style of play and that is certainly what we are trying to achieve as a team.

“Last week wasn’t good enough - there are four quarters in a game of footy and we only played three and a half last week so that was really the key for us today to play four good, solid quarters and we are pretty proud that we did that.”

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The Dogs consistently won the contested ball with 54 more contested possessions and 14 more contested marks as well as winning on the stats sheet in tackles (WB 81, NM 77) and clearances (WB 42, NM 32).

The dominance indicates that Senior Coach Brendan McCartney’s game plan is becoming more fluid and natural to the playing group as they make strides each week in its implementation.

“The more and more we practice it, the more we work hard at training that style is going to come into our games and when the going gets tough we keep coming back to that - more times than not it is going to hold you in good stead,”  Cross said.

“We really honed in on that for the four quarters.

“It is all about winning the inside of the contest first… and when we have won it we spread hard and we did that - we got the balance right with that today.”

The Dogs also unveiled a new forward line talent in mature aged recruit Tory Dickson who in his third AFL game slotted through four goals and impressed with his second efforts, with perennial hard worker Cross also praising his work ethic.

“Dickson is a real hard worker - he has been a great pickup by the Club as a mature aged draftee and when you work hard you get the rewards and that is what he has done,” Cross said.

“He has really good hands and is reaping the rewards with the big guys down there like [Jordan] Roughead, Ayce [Cordy] and Will [Minson] presenting and getting a contest and he was feeding off them a bit.

“The whole forward line really gelled well today.”

Cross’s shift down back to assist also allowed him to see first-hand Mark Austin stepping up alongside Brian Lake to restrict Drew Petrie and Aaron Edwards to a combined 4 goals for the match.

“We have been a bit short on back men with so many going down… I am going back to help out the backline quite a bit which I am really enjoying - it is great to help the team wherever possible,” he said.

“The guys down there today did a fantastic job. Mark Austin was brilliant I thought Brian Lake did a great job on Petrie, Dylan Addison all these guys we work really well together.

Through the middle of the ground it was Mitch Wallis who stood out from the young brigade with 28 possessions, 4 marks, 5 clearances, 8 tackles as well as a major to his name.

Receiving the Rising Star nomination in round four seems to have buoyed his confidence with him producing some of his best footy in the past few weeks.

“Wallis reaped the benefits of that today with good method around the ball,” Cross said.

“Wallis,[Tom] Liberatore and Clay Smith and all these guys they are the future of our club and they are working extremely hard to get the balance right with their offence and defence skills as we all are.

“I am really proud of those young guys in the side - actually I am just really proud of the whole group.

“Just a real good even contribution from everyone and that is what we are all about."

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