A RARE break of more than seven days before their next game should give the Western Bulldogs a long-awaited chance to fine-tune, according to coach Brendan McCartney.

The Bulldogs took on Geelong on Friday night after their fifth six-day break this season and started sluggishly, conceding the first three goals of a match they never led.

Watch Coach Brendan McCartney and Captain Matthew Boyd address the media post match on the media player above or on the Club Mobile App.

Speaking after the game, McCartney said he would use the nine days before next week's game against the Sydney Swans to simulate game play.

"We have a nice break now, we've had a pretty solid schedule, we've had not a lot of opportunity to practice game-related things because we've had games backed up one after another," McCartney said.

"We get a nice break now to learn from experience and work on it, in particular our young, mid-tier players. The older blokes could see what was happening out there, some of our less experienced players took a while to adjust."

The Bulldogs' ability to twice get within a kick of Geelong in the second half was proof to McCartney that his team is heading in the right direction.

The Bulldogs trailed by one point in the third quarter and by three points in the final term in a match where they beat Geelong in several key areas, including contested possession and clearances.

"I couldn't be more proud of our senior players, the way they are driving this team and they are actually creating a fantastic example for our young players," McCartney said.

"We'll get there if we hold firm and keep doing the little things well and our senior players manage to keep everything in perspective, and (if) we keep chipping away at defence and our last kick inside 50. We'll get to where we want to."

McCartney, who was an assistant coach at Geelong in its premiership-winning seasons of 2007 and 2009, said his new team would learn from his former club.

"(We take) some encouragement but also some learning too in the defensive side of the game, and the ability when the ball gets kicked into a certain area the other team can't hang on to it for quite as long. They were very good at that tonight," he said.

"They were strategic, experienced and smart with it, they did it very well."