Western Bulldogs captain Matthew Boyd has faced awkward questioning over footage indicating he targeted North Melbourne counterpart Brent Harvey's fractured thumb on Sunday.

Harvey played a starring role in the Kangaroos' impressive win at Etihad Stadium, despite fracturing his thumb against Collingwood a week earlier.

Video footage which seemingly showed Boyd taking a swipe at the thumb was played to the Bulldogs skipper on Foxtel's On the Couch program on Monday night.

Asked about the incident, Boyd attempted to deflect it with humour.

"Boomer (Harvey) was just asking me to get some grass off his hand, so I was sort of mucking around," Boyd said.

"We were just having a chat, we're old acquaintances from way back."

More seriously, the hard-nosed midfielder said he had experienced the other side of similar incidents in the past.

"I played with a broken hand most of the year last year. There were guys who got into that, that's no dramas," he said.

Of greater concern to Boyd was what he said was a drop in effort against the Kangaroos, compared to during the 12th-placed Bulldogs' four-match winning streak leading into that game.

"That's what we talk about at the footy club, having that effort across the board from the first minute to the last minute," he said.

"Obviously on the weekend that wasn't there and that's a real concern, that with the position we're in at the moment, we couldn't bring that fanaticism we've had for the past month or so."

The Bulldogs face a crunch game against Sydney at the SCG on Saturday.

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