BRENDAN McCartney realises Western Bulldogs fans will be frustrated and angry after another belting - this time by 82 points to top side Sydney Swans at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

After his team suffered its ninth successive loss, the Bulldogs coach admitted the scoreboard can have the same deflating and flattening effect on him that it has on supporters.

He also said he understood that not everyone shares his optimism that the Bulldogs are on the right path.

Watch Brendan McCartney & Clay Smith speak in the post match press conference on the media player above.

But McCartney believes there were some positive signs in a game where the Dogs led by three goals, only to be on the wrong end of a 100-point turnaround in three quarters.

He said the margin didn't reflect the competitive nature of the contest, and that his team had forced the Swans to fight harder than many experts had predicted.

"When (we) competed really well today and moved the ball, we looked like a pretty decent team," he said.

"The scoreboard was disappointing - the effort wasn't, and the spirit wasn't. But we paid a heavy price whenever we didn’t complete the basics of the game well today."

McCartney said that since the mid-season break the Bulldogs had confronted mainly "very accomplished, matures teams" that had "worn out" his younger players.

"We've debuted eight or nine young people (and) I think we debuted 11 first-gamers last year under a different coaching structure, so that's half a list inside 12 months," he said.

"For us it's a form of excitement, for some others it may be a source of criticism. But there's only one way to get young people better and that's to train them the right way, teach them, the right way and give them opportunities."

He is also keen to give more opportunities to Adam Cooney, who played little over a quarter after starting the game in the substitute's vest.

Asked if Cooney would play next week against Geelong at Simmonds Stadium, McCartney said he would "at this stage".

"We don't do injury clinic until tomorrow but we managed him pretty well. I think it's been a good result that he wanted to get out there and play. He's overcome a fair bit in the last four or five weeks to do that. Long way to go with him, though, to get his legs up and running."

McCartney explained that Cooney had been used as the sub because he "hasn’t done enough work to play a full game".

"If we've got him out there and we lose a player in the first quarter, we may lose him as well," he said.

"He's been able to do some training but we haven't been able to (get him) running fast for long periods of time. And we were playing a pretty good team that I don't think were going to wait for us and slow down."