The Western Bulldogs are in the top four, but limping into the last part of the AFL season, with coach Rodney Eade saying two more injuries are probably due to fatigue.

The Bulldogs scored a hard-fought 16.14 (110) to 11.14 (80) victory over Carlton, only asserting their superiority in the last quarter, when they kicked six goals to one.

Along the way they lost midfielder-forward Daniel Giansiracusa (hamstring) and defender Brett Montgomery (calf), with Montgomery likely to miss four or five matches and Giansiracusa at least three.

The club is now down to the bare bones of its list, having lost five players to major knee injuries and several others to broken bones.

Eade said the two injuries were a sign that the 'Dogs' hard-running style, combined with a tough victory over West Coast in hot Subiaco weather a fortnight ago, could be taking a toll.

He said he had toyed with the idea of resting some players, including Montgomery, last weekend against the Kangaroos.

"I think it's a cumulative effect of fatigue and (Montgomery) hurt his calf very early, the first 10 minutes," Eade said.

"I think Gia was probably a bit of that as well and our guys still looked tired again.

"I think it's the heat (in Perth) and the cumulative effect maybe of the way we play, we were quite tired going into the break ... we still saw some signs of fatigue early this week."

He said the club needed to stay positive through adversity, as it had all season.

"As a young team I don't know how it's going to unfold the next seven weeks, only time will tell with that," he said.

"I think one thing about the group, they have got plenty of persistence and plenty of belief."

Eade labelled the win ugly, calling it "The Hunchback of Notre Dame ... it was that ugly."

Scores were level at 10.10 (70) at the last change, with the Blues on top in the midfield for much of the first three quarters.

Adam Bentick, Andrew Carrazzo, Ryan Houlihan, Heath Scotland and Nick Stevens gave Carlton plenty of drive into attack.

However, they failed to make the most of their opportunities, with spearhead Brendan Fevola having a quiet day with 1.2, defender Dale Morris deserving credit for sticking tightly to him.

The Bulldogs had more dangerous options in attack, with captain Brad Johnson, Giansiracusa and Matthew Robbins each kicking three goals and Rohan Smith and Adam Cooney two.

It still took some last-quarter brilliance from Johnson to break the game open, with the skipper instrumental in three of the first four goals of the quarter, which gave the Bulldogs a 22-point lead.

Carlton's chances of staying in touch ended when the normally-classy Stevens then had an astonishing miss from 10 metres out, while Fevola followed by hitting the post with a 40 metre set shot.

Blues coach Denis Pagan said his young team lacked polish in the final term, but the ability to close out tight games would come with greater experience.

"Some of our errors and turnovers and poor decisions were probably the difference, some of them were horrific and it just cost us," Pagan said.

"I think we had 25 more possessions in the last quarter, we made some errors and it just demoralises the whole team."

He said despite the inconsistency, there were some positives, particularly Bentick's game opposed to Bulldogs star Scott West, who was influential, but not the standout he has been in many games this season.

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