Beveridge’s Bulldogs are barking early in 2026

The Western Bulldogs haven't had a start to a season like this in a while.

A team that seems to perennially have all the talent but none of the consistency has begun the year as well as coach Luke Beveridge could have hoped, knocking over the reigning premiers Brisbane away from home in Opening Round before obliterating arch rivals Greater Western Sydney in Round 1.

Saturday's 81-point win over the Giants at Marvel Stadium demonstrated not only the Bulldogs' ability to attack, kicking 21.8 (134), but also their defensive capability by keeping a potent GWS forward line to 7.11 (53).

Beveridge said he and his staff have worked hard at strengthening their defence without weakening their offence.

"As much as we have gone to work on a handful of things that hopefully improve defensive aggregate, our plan was to always make sure it didn't compromise our ability to score," he said.

"You could make a case right now that that looks okay, although Brisbane scored I think 106 points last week.

"It's going to be hard to minimise scoring every week, so I think it is just on balance; it's equal terms. We want to score but you would have to say today was a pretty good source pressure and defensive effort.

The Dogs' cornucopia of stars were in full flight under the lid at Marvel, with captain Marcus Bontempelli at his rampaging best finishing with three goals, 33 disposals, six clearances, 677m gained and 11 score involvements.

Twin towers Aaron Naughton (six goals, five contested marks) and Sam Darcy (four goals) also fired in attack.

Beveridge couldn't speak more highly of his captain post-game.

"He played an extraordinary game," he said.

"It's his 13th year, it has gone in a flash.

"It's rare that I stand in front of the group and blow smoke, because I don't want him to feel uncomfortable, he knows what I think of him, what I feel about him. But after today, it was definitely necessary to acknowledge how well he played. He was quite incredible really.

"Aaron's game was extraordinary as well. He was just a powerhouse down there. Those two individuals had ridiculously good games."

Across the ground the Bulldogs were slick and efficient, but Beveridge said he was most impressed with how his players handled the one-percenters such as spoils and defending turnovers.

"I felt like we were able to delay (the Giants after turnover) enough and get them into spots we could manage and then get a look at a spoil and not give away any tap ins, not give them blatant overlap over the top balls into their offensive paddock," he said.

"I thought we managed our own mistakes reasonably well, which is so important. As much as we ended up scoring pretty heavily there was a period in the first half where we weren't executing from a quality point of view as well as we would have liked."