Western Bulldogs could enter next week's crunch AFL match against Carlton minus star forward Jason Akermanis, but coach Rodney Eade remains hopeful midfielder Adam Cooney and key forward Robert Murphy will return to bolster their stocks.

Akermanis faces an anxious wait after he was caught on camera tripping West Coast defender Mark Nicoski during the third term of the Bulldogs' 33-point loss to the Eagles on Sunday.

Although the former Lion, who stuck out his left leg as he was falling down in order to halt Nicoski's run, wasn't reported for the incident, it is sure to come under scrutiny from the match review panel.

Eade was visibly agitated after the 17.14 (116) to 12.11 (83) loss, ruing his side's costly turnovers and fadeouts near the end of quarters.

When asked whether Cooney and Murphy were a chance to line-up against the Blues, Eade replied: "Hopefully ... I think they'll play."

The pair's absence was keenly felt as the Bulldogs crashed to their first defeat of the season.

The Eagles, put on notice by coach John Worsfold earlier in the week following their 97-point capitulation to St Kilda, had winners all over the park.

Dean Cox, Daniel Kerr, Brent Staker, Adam Selwood and Matt Priddis gave them the ascendancy in the midfield, while the Bulldogs struggled to penetrate West Coast's zoning back six of Darren Glass, Mark Nicoski, Mitch Brown, Eric Mackenzie, Shannon Hurn and David Wirrpanda.

While Shaun Higgins (four goals) played a lone hand up forward for the Dogs, Quinten Lynch (three goals), Adam Hunter (three), Ben McKinley (two) and Mark LeCras (two) shared the load for the Eagles.

The Bulldogs were well served by Daniel Cross, Ryan Hargrave, Matthew Boyd and Akermanis, but the Eagles were a class above their opponents, proving their 50-point home win over Port Adelaide a fortnight earlier was no fluke.

"It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride the last three weeks," a proud Worsfold said after the match.

"We've learnt a lot form the last three weeks and we need to put all those lessons to good use.

"It was a pretty committed effort.

"To take on a very good side and beat them it was going to take full commitment and throughout the whole game there was a lot of good examples of strong leadership within the group out there, even from some of the younger players."

West Coast are yet to win on the road this season but Worsfold felt his charges were in good shape to topple last year's premiers Hawthorn in Saturday night's clash in Launceston.

"That's a test for us," Worsfold said.

"I would back them in that they would be a lot better prepared and more switched on than last week (against St Kilda)."

Worsfold heaped particular praise on Kerr, whose 13 possessions in the third quarter helped break the game wide open.

The 25-year-old also kept his temper at bay despite twice being cleaned up by Bulldogs youngster Liam Picken.

"He is copping a battering, we are all aware of that, but he's very disciplined to focus on his hard run ... and his teammates were pretty good sticking up for him," Worsfold said.

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