THE WESTERN Bulldogs have responded to their critics with an emphatic 33-point win over Carlton at Ikon Park on Thursday night.

The Dogs came out with ferocious intensity, showing the crowd, their opponents and the AFLW community that they can play an attacking, entertaining brand of football.

BLUES v BULLDOGS Full match coverage and stats

After finishing the past two games goalless, the Dogs had seven individual goalkickers to walk away with a 9.7 (61) to 4.4 (28) win in front of a crowd of 1,320.

The loss almost certainly puts the Blues out of finals contention, as Mathew Buck's side drops to 13th on the ladder.

After a tough week where their defensive match tactics were questioned, the Bulldogs came out and immediately silenced their critics, kicking the first of the game through forward Heidi Woodley.

It then went goal for goal, with new Blue Celine Moody kicking her side's first against her old side, followed shortly after by a gift to the Dogs' Naomi Ferres who put one through on the goal line.

Carlton's young rising star Keeley Sherar, who kicked the matchwinner against Fremantle in week seven, scored her second goal in consecutive games when she snapped on her non-preferred from a stoppage inside 50.

But it was slim pickings for the Blues after the Sherar goal with the Bulldogs adding on the next three through No.1 draft pick Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner, captain Deanna Berry and Analea McKee.

Defenders Mimi Hill and Harriet Cordner tried to stop the Dogs' ascendency, and eventually the Blues got on the board when young forward Keeley Skepper scored Carlton's first goal since the nine-minute mark of the second term just before three-quarter time, reducing the margin to 14 points.

The Dogs didn't take their foot off the pedal, adding to the Blues' pain when they kicked a further four goals in the final term to put the win out of question, making it the Dogs' third win for the season.

Dogs brush aside goalscoring woes
Bulldogs senior coach Tam Hyett would have breathed a sigh of relief when forward Heidi Woodley kicked the first goal of the match. Hyett has come under immense criticism in the past week following her side's defensive tactics against Essendon in last week's marquee Pride game. But against the Blues they had eight goalkickers, putting the talk of defensive footy to bed.

Pritchard is prime time
Isabelle Pritchard's game has gone from strength to strength this season. The tall midfielder with a belting left foot has been compared to the Bulldogs' men's captain Marcus Bontempelli and she put on a show with 25 disposals, 15 contested possessions and a goal. Pritchard's improvement will be a silver lining to captain Ellie Blackburn's season-ending injury.

Up next
Carlton and the Western Bulldogs now have a 10-day break, with their week nine matches taking place next Sunday afternoon. The Bulldogs will play St Kilda at Mars Stadium in Ballarat at 1.05pm AEDT, while Carlton will be looking to reset when it takes on rival Collingwood at Victoria Park at 3.05pm AEDT.

CARLTON                              1.4     2.4     3.4     4.4 (28)
WESTERN BULLDOGS          2.0     4.5     5.6     9.7 (61)

GOALS
Carlton: Skepper, Sherar, C.Moody, Brown
Western Bulldogs: Hartwig 2, Woodley, Weston-Turner, McKee, Ferres, Berry, Pritchard, Grigg

BEST 
Carlton: B.Moody, Hill, McKay, Cordner, Guerin, Good
Western Bulldogs: Pritchard, Fitzgerald, Berry, Wilcox, Woodley

INJURIES
Carlton: Nil
Western Bulldogs: Edmonds (ankle)

LATE CHANGES
Carlton: Darcy Vescio (delayed concussion) replaced in selected side by Amelia Velardo
Western Bulldogs: Nil

Reports: Nil

Crowd: 1,320 at Ikon Park