Clay Smith gave his all for the Western Bulldogs in his AFL debut match on Sunday, so much so that his body shut down during the third quarter and he could go on no longer.

Wearing the No.14 jumper vacated by Greater Western Sydney recruit Callan Ward, the 18-year-old Smith threw himself into the fray and finished with four goals before his body gave way.

The teenager was subbed off in the third quarter.

“He was terrific,” Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney enthused after his side faded in the second half to lose 21.10 (136) to 12.15 (87) in their round-one clash with West Coast at Etihad Stadium.

“To see young people come into the game and just see the ball and go for it and put his body on the line and just compete so hard.

“You don’t anticipate that a young guy is going to come in and kick four goals.

“It just landed in his hand a couple of times.

“But just his contests in other areas of the ground was terrific.

“I would have preferred he didn’t go into a full body cramp and we could have left him out there.

“But that’s probably reflective of how hard he worked.”

Tenth last year, the Bulldogs are embarking on a new era following the departures of key forward Barry Hall (retired), ruckman Ben Hudson (Brisbane) and Ward.

Ruckmen Will Minson and Jordan Roughead struggled against Nic Naitanui and Dean Cox, while young key forward Liam Jones kicked 1.3 including some key misses in the third term.

McCartney said the 21-year-old Jones was not the “next great white hope” but simply part of the club’s forward set-up.

“He will get better,” McCartney said.

Asked if Jones worked hard enough, McCartney said: “No, that’s an area of growth for him.”

McCartney defended Matthew Boyd who had 38 touches but struggled to use the ball effectively.

“He’ll go home tonight and dissect where he can get better and that (ball use) might bob up in his own mind,” McCartney said.

The coach backed second-year defender Lukas Markovic, 25, who had a tough day on seven-goal hero Josh Kennedy.

“I can remember some young defenders a long time ago I worked closely with who got beaten early in their careers and they became better players off the back of it,” said McCartney, a former Geelong assistant coach.

“He’ll be one of those.”