Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has praised the Stefan Martin and Tim English ruck combination after it passed its first serious test against Collingwood in Round 1 on Friday night.

Martin was recruited in the off-season to assist English, an emerging ruck in the competition, and the pair worked strongly in tandem to blunt the influence of outstanding Magpies ruckman Brodie Grundy.

The pair shared ruck time and also had an impact on the scoreboard, kicking one goal each – Martin’s coming at a crucial stage of the last quarter to effectively end the contest.

"Stefan was huge for us in the end because Brodie Grundy has really given them the impetus the last few times we've played, and it's been difficult for our team to recover from his work,” Beveridge said after the game.

"And I thought Tim's ruck work was pretty good, too, when it was his turn to go in there so that's a good result for us.

“If we can keep Tim and Stef fit together and playing in tandem as they did tonight, it’s obviously going to help.”

The Bulldogs got off to the perfect start in their 2021 campaign with a 16-point win over Collingwood at the MCG, on the back of an inside 50 dominance and a strong defensive performance.

It reversed the disappointment of last year’s opening round 52-point defeat to the same opposition.

But as always, Beveridge believes there is room for improvement.

“The most pleasing thing was the defensive aspect.  We had a lot of red numbers last year – we let teams go down the other end and score a lot, so that’s a good outcome for us,” he said.

“We only let them inside their fifty 41 times, and to keep them to seven goals (was pleasing).

“We want to defend better, but we still created a hell of a lot of opportunities.  We left a few out there tonight.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do.  Collingwood have had our measure for the last few years, so to start the year with the four points is obviously extremely pleasing from our perspective.”