IT'S BEEN a lean season for Western Bulldogs fans, but they caught a glimpse of the future on Saturday night.

The young Bulldogs forward line combined to kick 15.13, which was the team's equal-third highest score for the season.

Tory Dickson (30 years old) combined up forward with Marcus Bontempelli (22), Josh Schache (20), Fergus Greene (20), Pat Lipinski (20) and usual defender Brad Lynch (21) in the Bulldogs' 35-point win over St Kilda.

The Dogs had a slow start, goalless in the opening term, before coming to life after quarter-time, kicking eight in the third quarter alone.

Greene was playing just his second match and relished playing alongside acting captain Bontempelli (covering for the hamstrung Easton Wood), who booted four goals in a stunning third term to wrest the game away from the Saints.

"He's a pretty handy player. You walk a bit taller when you walk out with him," Greene told AFL.com.au post-match.

"He played a little bit of time in the forward line with me, which was good. He's always giving you advice, he's always constructive, he never says a bad thing to you."

First-game nerves out of the way, Greene had 14 disposals and kicked a goal against the Saints.

"I still get pretty nervous before a game like everyone else, but it was good to walk in here knowing I had one under my belt.

"It was tricky conditions last week in Ballarat. It was easier knowing it was going to be a still game and it was going to come down to ability rather than trying to read the conditions.

"I was a little bit more comfortable walking out there …"

The Bulldogs had 10 individual goalkickers, with youngsters Schache (a career-high three goals) and Lipinski (one) also hitting the scoreboard.

Coach Luke Beveridge said the makeshift forward line worked well.

"That forward line will really evolve over the journey," Beveridge said.

"In the end we had Brad Lynch down there, we lost Roarke Smith (concussion) and Lynchy needed to move to [forward], so we ended up having Caleb Daniel and Ed Richards in our backline. Our earlier plans [for] forward of the ball went up in smoke.

"They haven't played together much. It was just the method we used the ball created the opportunities. The best template is always to get a really broad spread of goalkickers and that will always be our intention."