Luke Beveridge has hailed his team’s relentless approach in Sunday afternoon’s noteworthy performance against West Coast at Optus Stadium.

The Bulldogs controlled the match for most of the afternoon against one of the competition heavyweights on their home turf, shrugging off some early conversion woes to streak away to a 55-point victory.

The result saw the Bulldogs solidify second place on the AFL ladder with 11 wins and three losses after 14 rounds, and a league-high percentage of 148.6.

“We left some score out there in that first half.  We kicked a lot of points, probably some gettable opportunities, and sometimes that can break your heart a little bit,” Beveridge said after the match.

“We didn’t let up, we kept at them.

“There was probably only a period in that third quarter where they kicked two goals from centre bounce, where we felt we lost a bit of control and a handle on the game.”

The performance on the road – the team’s fourth interstate win so far in 2021 – came after a difficult week of quarantine in Perth hotels.

“The boys had to put up with a bit this week, and they held up tremendously well,” Beveridge said.

“To start the game like we did, when there was a lot going on around us, that was great conviction from all of our players.

“I thought right across the board everyone played critical roles in the performance.  It was a very even contribution from all and sundry.”

The only downside to the win was a shoulder injury to Ryan Gardner – the opposite shoulder to the one he had surgery on earlier in the season.

In a courageous act in the term, Gardner threw himself into the path of Eagles’ forward Josh Kennedy, effecting an important spoil for his team.

“It’s exactly the same incident as when he hurt his shoulder earlier in the year and he had surgery,” Beveridge said.

“We don’t know the extent of it yet, but it appears to be somewhere along that collarbone area.  I’d imaging he’s going to miss some weeks.

“It shows courage.  He went there again and got cleaned up unfortunately.”