The impressive Western Bulldogs continued their unbeaten start to the AFL season, beating Sydney by 18 points at the SCG.

The Dogs triumphed 18.4 (112) to 14.10 (94) to register their first victory in Sydney since 2002, withstanding a late Swans comeback to keep the pressure on ladder-leaders Geelong and Hawthorn.

Rodney Eade's team barely rated a mention in the pre-season, but the Bulldogs have now recorded six wins and a draw from their opening seven games in 2008.

The Swans, who started the year in promising form, slipped to their third loss and are still struggling to overcome the absence of spearhead Barry Hall.

Adam Cooney put in a best-on-ground performance for the visitors, kicking five goals and gathering 25 possessions, ably assisted by tireless skipper Brad Johnson (four goals).

Ryan O'Keefe worked hard for the home side, but poor kicking for goal and some dreadful skill errors condemned the Swans to their first loss at the SCG this year.

Even the late withdrawal of onballer Scott West with knee soreness failed to hinder the `Dogs, who deserved to maintain their undefeated start to the season.

There was little sign of what was to come when Sydney's Jarrad McVeigh kicked the first two goals of the game.

Eade said leading up to the match he felt his side were finally equipped to combat Sydney's lockdown style, but that didn't appear to be the case in the opening exchanges.

The visitors struggled to get their hands on the ball and the Swans were comfortably keeping the Dogs at bay.

A goal from former Cat Henry Playfair in his first game for Sydney gave the home side a 15-point edge at the first break.

But whatever Eade said at the quarter-time interval worked a treat as the Bulldogs emerged a completely different team after a quiet opening term.

Suddenly first to every contest, the Bulldogs kicked seven unanswered goals to turn a 15-point deficit into a 28-point lead.

The Swans threw everything into the third term, but repeatedly blew their opportunities in front of goal, managing only 4.6 for the quarter to the `Dogs' four straight goals.

The visitors then kicked four of the first five goals to start the final quarter to guarantee the four points.

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