BASIC skill errors cost the Western Bulldogs in their critical loss to St Kilda but the same high effort must be shown for the rest of the season, according to Bulldogs tagger Liam Picken.

Having won just three games from the opening 11 rounds of the season, the Bulldogs needed a victory to kick start their year, but errors under pressure were vital in ending their hopes of gaining a fourth win for the season on Friday night.

''There was always pressure. Both sides were really putting pressure on. We need that effort every week, we can't just be on and off, we need to bring it every week and the skills will take care of themselves, '' a dejected Picken said after the game.

"We turned it over too much. We probably got into the forward line enough to win, but just a couple of skill errors cost us.

''We had our opportunities, but there just a few decisions that went against us, a few missed shots at goal, we turned it over and it quickly went down the other end and they scored.''

Picken said the team would continue to rue the missed opportunities of the final quarter. The Bulldogs kicked the opening goal of the term through Liam Jones and had cut the lead back to two goals. Consecutive misses by Daniel Cross and Ryan Griffen were answered by a running goal from Brendon Goddard, and the Bulldogs lost their momentum.

''If we kicked a couple of goals, we could have got a run on," Picken said.

"We could have hit the front in that last quarter, but we just turned it over when we didn't need to, and that hurts on the scoreboard."

"I think it is just execution in the end. The boys have still got confidence in their own ability and in the side. We just did not execute, especially in that finally quarter when we had the flow of the ball.''

The match between two of the competition's most successful sides of recent years had been billed as an early elimination final, with both teams experiencing a difficult start to the year. After the 24-point loss, the Bulldogs look set to miss the finals for the first time since 2007.

However, Picken said the players would not give up on the season.

"Every game is important, against all other sides. It was disappointing to lose but we need to take confidence from where we did play well. Tonight, we got it out of their forward line with fluency, we have to take confidence from that into next week, we have to look forward to coming back,'' he said.

Despite his own performance tagging Nick Dal Santo, which won praise from coach Rodney Eade, there was little joy from the tagger after the match.

The dangerous Dal Santo had started in the middle of the ground but Picken was able to shade the Saint's effectiveness and won plenty of his own
possession. The Bulldog's 27 disposals eclipsed Dal Santo's 14 possessions but it was the two important goals from his opponent that irked Picken immediately after the game.

"In the end, he has kicked two goals and his side has won, so that is always disappointing. Obviously if we won, it would be a whole different story, but they won, they got the four points,'' Picken said on Friday night.

Dal Santo's second goal of the night came late in the third quarter. Bulldog Nathan Djerrkura had won a free kick in front of goal only for Daniel Cross to pick up the ball and start to play on, the umpire immediately called 'advantage' before all the players stopped, the ball spilled free and the Saints cleared the ball quickly, allowing Dal Santo to run into an open goal at the other end.

''It was disappointing for the side, it was disappointing that they were able to take it down the other end pretty much uncontested, all the way down there, and score a goal,'' Picken said.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs