We can't cop this: McCartney
Brendan McCartney says the Dogs aren't tolerating their disappointing form, but insists patience is needed
The Bulldogs' 76-point loss to St Kilda at Etihad Stadium means they've lost their past six games by an average of 58 points.
Watch Coach Brendan McCartney's press conference in full on the media player above.
The Bulldogs fell away after quarter-time as the stronger Saints kicked 12 goals to three over the final three terms.
McCartney said he would continue to show patience while educating his young players to play a contested brand of footy, a brand in which they attack when they've got the ball and defend when they haven't got it.
"I don't want to be an alarmist," he said.
"I don't want to sit here and have you people think we're just copping this.
"We know where we're at and we know it's going to take a significant amount of time."
McCartney said the main problem against St Kilda was that his inexperienced players were bumped off the ball by bigger, stronger opponents.
Rather than trying to protect the scoreline by shoring up the defence, he wants to educate his players by having them play one on one against experienced rivals.
"If we're serious — and we are — about developing our young players and turning them into good players we've got to keep putting them in situations like that," he said.
"If it gets too much for them, give them a spell, put someone else out there, and that's what we'll keep doing."
McCartney stressed that "good clubs are built from within".
"More often that not, it was a really inexperienced player who got bundled off the ball, got pushed off the ball, worked out of position or stripped of the ball ... and away they went.
"The reality is that it's going to happen to young players until they get bigger and stronger and can handle playing against more mature opponents.
"But we've got to get better than that as a footy team, too.
"That's what's unacceptable. A bad five minutes is turning into a bad 45 minutes, and we've got to get better than that."