Western Bulldogs have rediscovered their mongrel at training ahead of Saturday night's AFL clash with Brisbane at the Gabba.

The tough one-on-one session saw things get willing with teammates Robert Murphy and Steven Tiller engage in a wrestle that had to be broken up by Lindsay Gilbee.

"It was a competitive session today and we need to bring that on the weekend," Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson said.

"That's what's been missing at the start of the last few games and we're super keen to turn that round."

The Bulldogs were shown up by North Melbourne early last Sunday when the Kangaroos had the first six scoring shots to open up a 26-point break at quarter-time.

A spray from coach Rodney Eade seemingly had little effect on the Bulldogs, as the margin blew out to as much as 50 points early in the third term.

Bulldogs assistant coach Leon Cameron was not surprised with Murphy's aggression but was more concerned about the team's lack of hardness when it counted.

"Murph has got a little bit of venom in him, so when you wind him up the wrong way he can get a bit nasty," Cameron said.

"Probably the last three weeks we've been trying to pick up our defensive side of things, physicality and that sort of stuff.

"On the weekend, the first 25 minutes of the game was just not acceptable.

"It took us halfway through the second quarter to realise that, which was the disappointing part.

"We've got to continue working on it, we've still got some light frame bodies but we've really addressed that hardness issue and that was the most disappointing part on the weekend."

Johnson said the Bulldogs were suffering from lapses in concentration which cost them on the scoreboard.

And while he had a pragmatic view about the difficulty of maintaining high intensity over the course of the season, he hoped his teammates could re-capture their form approaching the finals.

"We're not playing bad full games, we're probably putting together a quarter that's really hurting us at the moment," Johnson said.

"So we're super determined to put four quarters together.

"We see ourselves as a mentally strong group but we let ourselves down in that area (against North)."

The Bulldogs have already sewn up a qualifying final clash with Hawthorn, but Cameron said it was important the Dogs kept winning.

"We're not a good enough side to flirt with our form, he said.

"We were out to win the Kangaroos game and that was disappointing we didn't and now we've got to beat Brisbane who are fighting for their life as well.

"If we go (into the finals) losing three or four in a row, it's so hard. You just can't switch on the light."

Cameron was confident ruckman Ben Hudson would recover from a back injury in time to play the Lions, while Josh Hill and Andrejs Everitt were also in line for a return.

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