Much has been made of Michael Talia’s development in recent weeks, with the key defender playing an important part in the Bulldogs'  2-1 start to the season.

With a key defensive post alongside Jordan Roughead up for grabs at the start of the year, Talia has taken early steps to make it his own in 2015.

In his fourth year in the AFL season, and with three full preseasons under his belt, Talia's body has the physical maturity ready to handle a key defensive post.

But the physical side is just one part of the equation.

Contending with the nuanced attack of each opponent is a skill in itself, and Talia said much would be taken from Sunday’s loss to the Hawthorn.

“It was really hard to adjust just because of their elite foot skills, they like to open up the corridor and use little kicks through there, and it just makes it so hard as a defender to adjust your positioning.”

Talia praised the attitude of his teammates who fought through the match, despite being reduced to only two players on interchange bench after quarter time.

“It was a tough day, obviously losing two early on (Morris and midfielder Mitch Wallis) didn’t help us but they’re a great team and there’s a reason they’re back to back premiers.

“That’s the way the game went in the end but I was pretty proud of the way the boys fought on.”

Talia collected 27 disposals, seven marks and two tackles, but the defender said there is plenty of improvement ahead of him.

“I went in with a plan just to nullify my opponent and hopefully hurt them a bit on the rebound but I was lucky enough to get a bit of the ball.

“But there’s still a lot of areas that I want to work on during the week so we’ll go through my tape with Bubba (assistant coach Rohan Smith) and the boys and obviously keep improving.”