Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney has called on his side's senior players to set the standards at the club after they lost by 70 points to West Coast at Patersons Stadium on Sunday.
The Dogs, who finished 15th last year, have now lost their past five matches and 16 out of their past 17 games in the AFL regular season.
Sunday's defeat to the Eagles left McCartney asking for more from his side's senior players.
McCartney pinpointed the fact West Coast were able to regularly instantly respond to Bulldogs goals with a major of their own.
"It's a disappointing day for our footy club. Three of the six games this year we've had long patches in games where we haven't been hard enough to play against," McCartney said.
"At times our more experienced players have got to drive standards and drive the team and get to the stage where when we kick a really good team goal, it doesn't get out at the next centre bounce and we keep the game where we want it."
He added: "You can't have the ball all the time. We have a unique opportunity right now in our club to teach some really good young people both sides of the game, attack and defence."
McCartney would have been enthused by the performances of young duo Clay Smith (26 disposals) and Liam Jones (nine marks), but continued to focus on senior players leading from the front.
"They are coming along but we need some help from some of our more mature people," McCartney said.
"I am not hanging anyone out to dry that's the message we spoke about after the game and they have accepted their role in that as experienced people and they have to lead their younger teammates through it out on the field when things get messy."
The Dogs, who are now 1-5, face North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium next Saturday, with winnable clashes against Gold Coast, St Kilda and Port Adelaide to follow.
"The next month does provide some opportunities to be really competitive, but if we don't play the right way and the correct way, it doesn't matter who you play in this competition, the other team will get easy possessions and feel good about playing," McCartney said.
"We've got to educate our players to play really tough, strong accountable footy and we'll score better. We'll score and our ball will be in our forward line more and they wont get as puffed running around trying to find their men."
McCartney said Nick Lower, who received a nasty poke to the eye, should be okay for the Kangaroos game, while he revealed Jake Stringer was substituted in the third term after suffering a cork to his knee to ensure he would be available for next weekend.
The Bulldogs coach added that Robert Murphy, Ryan Griffen and Daniel Giansiracusa should all be available after injuries next weekend, while Tom Williams was a chance to play too.