IT'S ALWAYS difficult flying to Western Australia to play the best team in the country, but the Western Bulldogs do it better than most.

In 2006 the Dogs became the first Melbourne-based team to beat the Eagles at Subiaco for four years, and on Saturday night ran them to just 15 points in a tight game where the margin never exceeded three goals.

Full-back Brian Harris said the team knew what to expect from the trip.

"Obviously we knew before we came into this game that it was a tough game, with lots of running and physical pressure," he said.

"We ran out the game pretty well. Obviously we fell down around the forward-50 in the last quarter, but we put up a good fight.

"With a big ground and perfect conditions out there, at times you have to play a bit of tempo footy, just chipping it around – the way we play is pretty fast and we need some time just to have a little bit of a breather, but it was a positive for our fitness that we were able to keep going and run the game out."

Harris said the defensive unit was tight in keeping the premiers to just 10 goals, and that midfield pressure was a huge help.

"Obviously any team that’s got good kickers in it makes it hard for the backmen, but the midfield put pretty good pressure on today, so that made it a little bit easier for us. Just with that little bit more pressure they aren’t able to hit the lead-ups as easy as they would.

"If they can clog up the midfield and put pressure on their users, they kick the ball up high and it doesn’t matter who’s standing who. If we can get a third man in, or a three-on-three contest in the goal square, it makes my life and Ryan Hargraves' and Dale Morris's life a lot easier.

"We were reasonably pleased. We think the backline has stood up pretty well so far this year - in the St Kilda game, with the height and stuff like that we just opened up a little bit, but I think the backline’s going pretty well."