Coach Luke Beveridge concedes the Western Bulldogs were outworked across their opening two losses as his shattered charges prepare to reckon with their brutal start to the AFL season.
The Bulldogs shipped nine of the last 10 goals in Saturday night's thumping 14.8 (92) to 5.11 (41) loss to St Kilda, which followed a 50-point defeat to Melbourne.
When pressed on whether the Bulldogs' fitness was up to scratch, Beveridge said he was confident they'd prepared for the season strongly but hadn't been able to go with the Demons or Saints.
"Well, I think you'd have to say that the first two rounds we've been outworked," he told reporters.
"So we've had a really solid pre-season but some surprises coming into the year with some boys.
"We've got 11 on the injury list at the moment - but that's not an excuse, it's just the way it is. You need a deep squad.
"But there's no doubt that when we compare our output as far as the ground cover and the intensity and the speed of it, we haven't been up to the level that the first two teams we've played have.
"Now that's a combination of things - it's definitely not because we haven't worked hard enough. So it's a difficult one to analyse but we've just got to face up to it."
The Bulldogs face a five-day turnaround before Thursday's clash with Brisbane, with soul-searching seemingly on the cards as Beveridge indicated he would look to change up his players' routine.
"We're just working through that at the moment," he said.
"It's not like it's been a big grind, we're just starting. But I think there were some similarities in the first two weeks that we didn't see coming.
"So we need to get to round three versus the Lions in absolutely the right headspace.
"We'll process that tonight and we'll find a sort of innovative way to get to Thursday so we give a better account of ourselves for the four quarters."
Rory Lobb (ankle) and Adam Treloar (hamstring) were "a chance" to return against Brisbane.
While adamant the first two rounds "didn't cut it", Beveridge stressed he wouldn't be cracking down hard on his players
"The main message, the clinical message is around believing we can turn it around quickly and it is still only round two so there's a lot of the season left to make a mark and we really believe we can," he said.
"And two: I'll always just be totally in our players' corner.
"I'm here to support them and I'm their ally, I'm not their gavel."
