WESTERN BULLDOGS veteran Nathan Eagleton says there is still room for improvement despite the team securing its seventh win in eight games on Sunday afternoon.

The Dogs had to withstand driving rain, a tenacious opponent and illness within the group to emerge on top of Adelaide by eight points.

“We’re going along pretty well," said Eagleton, "we’ve just got to keep doing what has to be done.
 
“They really gave it to us today and put a lot of pressure on us, but we were up to the task.”

The heavy rain restricted both sides scoring after half time, with the Bulldogs only managing one goal in each term.

Eagleton said old-fashioned wet weather techniques were the key to the Bulldogs' fifth consecutive victory.

“We stuck to the process of kicking the ball down the line and tried to deny the Crows getting the footy,” he said.

The Bulldogs were beaten in tackles by Adelaide 70 to 82 but were able to win the contested ball in the wet conditions.

“Tackles were down a bit, we really needed to put the pressure on them to make sure we could compete,” he said.

Daniel Giansiracusa, Matthew Boyd and Daniel Cross all had impressive games, while Eagleton (26 possessions and a goal) took advantage of his recall to the side.

Young forward Liam Jones also showed a lot of promise in only his second AFL game as the Bulldogs' only multiple goal scorer.

The Dogs are now a whole game clear on the ladder from fifth placed Fremantle, but Eagleton said his teammates were not thinking about the finals yet.

“We’re just getting our processes right and making sure we consolidate our top-four spot,” he said.

Eagleton said next week's clash against Geelong would be a telling sign of the Bulldogs' progress.

“It should be another great contest to see where we are at.”