WESTERN BULLDOGS coach Rodney Eade says it will never be "nirvana" for Barry Hall and the rest of the Bulldogs team.

Hall contributed just one goal to the Dogs' 72-point win over Richmond at the MCG on Sunday evening, and Eade called for patience as the star big man continues to settle into a new team structure.

"It's going to take him and us quite a while [to get used to each other]. I know he played well in the NAB Cup, but the NAB Cup is different," Eade said.

"I would think it'll take a good six to eight weeks into the season to be able to have that symmetry. We've got some tough games ahead with good defences, so that's going be difficult to get it right as well.

"But as I've said all along with Barry, if he plays his role and he works hard defensively - some of his tackles were terrific - and he provides a target for us and provides a contest, that's all we can ask.

"He'll kick ones and twos and threes and if he kicks 40-odd goals, that'll be great."

The Dogs had 35 shots - including three from Hall - and Eade was disappointed with his side's conversation rate.

"The set shots, we shouldn't have missed those - we kicked 17.18 and it should've been minimum 22.13," he said.

"The spread of goalkickers was back to what we normally are, which was good. Barry dished a few off and I thought he opened the game up really well in the third quarter up at centre half-forward and that accelerated the game our way."