A year-long focus on versatility and spread of responsibility has seen the Western Bulldogs land a top-eight finish.

The Bulldogs secured a place in the finals on Saturday after a 23-point win against North Melbourne.

Veteran defender Matthew Boyd said the focus on spreading the load throughout the year, had culminated in a stirring win against the Kangaroos.

“That’s what we’ve talked about, we really need an even contribution, we don’t rely on one or two individuals which is a real strength of ours, and everyone played their part.

“We had down patches in the game but we bounced back really well and finished the game off really strongly.”

Boyd has been in scintillating form for most of this season, picking up 31 disposals, eight marks and eight rebound 50s on the weekend.

But the contribution from the Bulldogs’ young talent has meant Boyd, captain Bob Murphy and Dale Morris – the side’s three most experienced players – haven’t been relied upon each week.

“We’ve got some serious young talent in this group and everyone’s working hard together and we don’t leave it up to too many individuals.

“We try and do it was a collective unit, but I thought ‘Bonti’ played one of his best games I’ve seen him play, I don’t know what his numbers were but it doesn’t matter because he had a massive impact on the game.

“’String’ again showed what he’s capable of, our little boys like Dahl and Honeychurch and all the boys around the ball did a great job and Lachie Hunter’s been in amazing form for the last month so there’s some good signs.”

Despite locking in a finals place, Boyd said with a young group, the key was to stay focused on the week ahead.

“I’m really proud of our boys and you enjoy those wins along the way because they’re pretty special.

“We are guaranteed to play finals but we can’t take our eye off next week now because as a young side we’ve just got to keep making good progressions forward and that only happens week by week but we can’t look too far ahead.”