THE WESTERN Bulldogs can recover and make the top four despite falling two games off the pace, according to defender Brian Lake.

Lake said the Dogs were capable of putting their back to back losses to Essendon and Collingwood behind them and catch up to the competition's leaders in the second half of the season.

"This puts us back a fair bit but the major focus now is trying to put a game together," he told afl.com.au on Sunday after their 10-point loss to Collingwood.

"We can't keep playing footy like this. We've got to be able to instigate a change earlier in games.

"The good teams do it - as soon as they turn the ball over, they go 'whooska' the other way. Geelong do it, St Kilda do it and Collingwood do it.

"If you want to be a good side, you've got to do that. Take risks."

The Dogs' round 11 loss to the Pies leaves them sixth behind Geelong, St Kilda, Fremantle, Collingwood and Carlton.

Lake said the fact they had failed to beat any of the sides above them wasn't the primary worry.

"Our form in general is our major concern," he said.

"We haven't put one good game together. We're playing quarters and halves here and there, just not full games.

"It's concerning. Losing to Collingwood today has put us further under the pump.

"Going into the game, we knew it was going to be big and important to beat a side like this and we couldn't do it.

"But now we go back to the drawing board."

Midfielder Shaun Higgins could miss up to six weeks after sustaining an ankle injury that may have been caused by the controversial Etihad Stadium surface.

Lake said the grass had improved in recent years and was "softer" than it used to be but admitted he found it slippery and said that most players wore screw-in stops because of it.

He also said he was sore after a collision in the third quarter of Sunday's match but that his knee was "fine" after twisting it in that incident.