SAM DARCY'S confident return from a serious knee injury was the icing on the cake for the Western Bulldogs, just eight weeks after fears his season was over.

The 21-year-old was a constant threat up forward, finishing with three goals from 19 disposals as the Dogs jumped back into the top eight with a powerful 72-point win over St Kilda.

The 20.12 (132) to 8.12 (60) victory was also the Bulldogs' highest score of the season, with 13 different goalkickers.

01:49

AFL R14 | Darcy’s back

Sam Darcy barely misses a beat in his return from injury, hauling in towering marks and slotting three goals in a powerful performance.

"He was pretty good, 'Darce'. Obviously, they (St Kilda's defenders) paid him a fair bit of attention. It's something that he's going to have to deal with from week to week, I think," Beveridge said.

"But he fought through that, and I think it's difficult when you're in so much physical contact. He's obviously long, and [difficult to] stay disciplined and [give] no free kicks away and all that sort of stuff, especially when you're not getting any yourself.

"He just needs to sort of temper that, and I thought he was pretty good in the ruck too when he went in there. So, he's had a good night, a good return."

13:48

Luke Beveridge | Post Match (RD14)

Watch Western Bulldogs’s press conference after round 14’s match against St Kilda.

An early knock to the ribs for star Marcus Bontempelli was something he was able to shake off, but working through the tag of Saint Marcus Windhager was a different story. While Bontempelli finished with just 14 disposals and three clearances, Beveridge was pleased with how his captain was able to adjust his game to offer teammates room to move.

"Windhager is a disciplined tagger, so Marcus (Bontempelli) obviously had his hands full there. (Windhager) did a pretty good job on [Kysaiah] Pickett against Melbourne the week before, and he's done a number of good jobs. Marcus still really worked through that," Beveridge said.

"And what that does, Marcus played a really selfless game tonight. It meant other players, teammates capitalised on that. He made one v twos, and it means we've got an extra somewhere… as much as you look at the stat sheet and see that Marcus didn't knock it out of the park with quantity, he played a real skipper's team game that helped everyone else."