WESTERN Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade made a blunt assessment of his team's 31-point loss to North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The defeat, which came a week after the Dogs had produced their best effort of the season against Carlton, left them languishing in 12th position on the ladder.

"The disappointing thing was that we didn't listen to instructions," said Eade, whose team had won its previous four matches to rekindle its finals hopes.

"We'd been playing pretty well, keeping it basic and simple, and listening to instructions.

"Unfortunately, some players got away from that and it certainly cost us badly.

"For some reason, players' heads fall off and they don't think. It puts a few players under pressure [to hold their spots in the side].

"We handballed too much and I don't think we worked hard enough in transitions either."

The Bulldogs were 20 points ahead late in the first quarter, then slipped 33 points behind in the third.

But they fought back to within five points at the final change and snatched the lead on three occasions early in the last quarter, before conceding six of the last seven goals.

"At three quarter-time, obviously we were confident we could win, but in the end we didn't deserve to," Eade said

"It was just work-rate. Our midfield got smashed and they just didn't work hard enough.

"You couldn't blame our forward line because the ball wasn't in there.

"I thought our defenders weren't as good as they have been, but it was won and lost in the midfield."
 
Eade's men are now six points shy of the eighth-placed Sydney Swans with six games to play.

"As I said last week, it's under our control if we win, but we didn't win so it puts us under more pressure," Eade said.

The Dogs face another crucial game next Saturday afternoon when they meet the Swans at the SCG.

"We certainly can win there, but we've just got to get ourselves up and play with the intensity we had for the previous four weeks, especially last week," Eade said.

"We just didn't bring that today."