Coach Brendan McCartney wants some of his most important players to give more as the Western Bulldogs struggle early in the AFL season.

The Bulldogs are 0-3 after suffering a 63-point loss to St Kilda on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.

Until they kicked the last three goals of the match, the ‘Dogs were languishing on their second-lowest score and their worst losing margin against the Saints.

Key defender Brian Lake showed some good signs, but was also reported for striking Tom Simpkin.

McCartney said Lake was in a group of senior Bulldogs – Brownlow Medallist Adam Cooney and defender Ryan Hargrave are two other obvious players – who are still regaining form after overcoming injury.

But he said they could still do more to help the Bulldogs’ many younger players on the field.

“A lot has been written about three or four players. The reality is they’ve missed a lot of footy at this level over the last 18 months,” McCartney said.

“They’re taking steps (but), if you asked them, all they’d probably honestly say they’d like to be giving a little bit more.

“I’m not talking about disposals or possessions or brilliant bits of play here – help drive the team and set the ground up, help the young blokes through tough patches.

“Often it’s a little bit of direction – just ‘reshape’ the ground a bit.”

The Bulldogs remarkably had four more inside 50s than the Saints, but their forward line never functioned well and they only kicked five goals under the Etihad Stadium roof.

“We understand we can’t serve up a performance like (Saturday night) and give everyone a rub on the back,” McCartney said.

“We have to get better, but we also know our experienced players … have accepted responsibility to lead the team and help the younger kids, show the 11-12 young boys we have in the team a better way.

“That way is turn up for work (on) Monday with the right attitude.”

The new coach added only a few players, including Lukas Markovic, captain Matthew Boyd and Jordan Roughead, had kept trying against the Saints.

“I liked six or seven of our players just sticking to their guns … even against a lot of adversity, they actually won their position and kept at it.

“The game’s not that complex – if you have enough people win their position, you usually get a better result.

“Six or seven isn’t enough.”