Two rounds into 2020, the Western Bulldogs were 0-2 and on the bottom of the AFL ladder.

A lot has changed since then.

One thing that hasn’t is the performance of off-season recruit Alex Keath. 

The star backman stood tall with his defence under siege early in the year and is now reaping the rewards, with the Bulldogs jumping to third spot on the ladder – mid-round – on the back of a nail-biting five-point win against the Gold Coast Suns.

Defensively, the Bulldogs have been superb since then to notch five wins from their past six outings.

And Keath very much feels at home now in red, white and blue.

“It’s taken a bit of time to build that chemistry,” he told media on the Gold Coast today.

“The lockdown period with COVID-19 stopped those games from occurring, but any time we’ve had together as a back six has been really valuable.

“I think we’re building some really good relationships and some good trust down there, so I’m really enjoying that.”

Despite the tough start to the year, there was a calmness to senior coach Luke Beveridge despite the results.

“’Bevo’ was really calm internally after what was a really difficult first couple of games,” Keath said.

“It certainly wasn’t anywhere near the performance that we were expecting of ourselves.

“We’re forming some new combinations, we’ve got some inexperience there as well.

“Seeing some development over the course of the season so far has been pleasing, so I hope that can continue.”

The 27-year-old has played just 38 AFL matches, but appears to be at the peak of his powers.

Nine intercepts against the Suns highlighted another impressive performance, which included some big grabs and big spoils at important moments.

“It was a difficult night for forwards being pretty slippery and greasy,” Keath said.

“I thought the defenders did the basics pretty well down there and we were able to make it quite difficult for them to score.

“There’s still some things we’d like to tighten up and we want to improve as we move forward.”

The Bulldogs will take plenty out of having to do things the hard way against the Suns.

In a frantic finale, the Bulldogs found a way.

“It was a little bit hairy,” Keath said.

“Laitham Vandermeer’s contest out on the back flank, that’s been noted and something we talked about internally that was huge for us.

“Bill (Gowers) provided an awesome contest up forward all night… he might like that (kick) again, but ‘Bont’ was very happy to clean things up and we move on. 

“It was pretty tight there and the Gold Coast were coming.”