Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge is confident his playing group will learn from their clash with the West Coast Eagles in round 21.

The Bulldogs went down by 77 points but were competitive for much of three quarters, and Beveridge has emphasised his playing group must still look at the positives following the weekend.

“We just had a chat about a number of things and one of those things we keep coming back to is all the positives in our year,” Beveridge said post-match on Sunday.

“What our young players and our group’s been able to do, and it’s going to be an important part of moving on quickly.

“Acknowledge that the Eagles were very good, maybe we learn a little bit from that and the experience… We’ll move on pretty quickly.”

The Bulldogs will need to do so, in order to face an in-form North Melbourne, after their win against ladder-leaders Fremantle on Saturday night.

The sixth-placed Dogs and seventh-placed Kangaroos will face off in a must-win game for both sides, with Beveridge maintaining his one week at a time mantra.

“We still need to continue to win to try and stay there, I don’t know what the equation is at the moment… but it will be another big game.

“Obviously the Kangaroos beat Freo by a narrow margin, but we’ll need to be at our best to beat them next week.”

The Bulldogs have a strong record following interstate losses, overcoming Adelaide in round four after a loss to Hawthorn in Tasmania in round three, and defeating the Lions in round 12 by 72 points after a loss to Port Adelaide the week prior.

Beveridge said he was hopeful veterans Matthew Boyd and Liam Picken would be available, after they missed the Eagles clash with minor injury concerns.

“We’re hopeful we’ll get Matty Boyd and Liam Picken back.

“A few boys played pretty well with Footscray at VFL level that will definitely come under consideration.”