STAR forward Jake Stringer's axing might have been the "little wake-up call" he needed to spark him into action for the Western Bulldogs' finals campaign, teammate Tory Dickson says.
Stringer paid the price for a lean patch of form and was a shock omission from the team that overcame Essendon by 40 points on Sunday.
The dynamic All Australian instead lined up for Footscray against Werribee at Avalon Airport Oval for his first state league appearance since mid-2014.
After a slow start, Stringer racked up 21 touches, laid nine tackles and booted a goal to push his case for a recall against Fremantle before the Dogs' return to finals.
"It's maybe just that little wake-up call," Dickson told AFL.com.au.
"He's a magnificent player when he's up and going. He's had a couple of down weeks, and been sent back to tweak a few little things in his game.
"I watched a little bit on the stream and he did all the things that we would've asked of him, that pressure, passing the ball off and giving guys better looks at goal.
"He's going to be a massive part of our finals and hopefully he can be back next week."
Stringer's freakish goal nous is unique in the Dogs' forward mix, but coach Luke Beveridge said scoreboard impact was only part of the bullocking 22-year-old's value.
"He really applied himself (against Werribee) and had some involvement in contest and ultimately hitting the scoreboard is something that will fall out of his game," Beveridge said after Sunday's game.
"It's always a positive if he does score, but it's not what he's assessed on, it's not what his teammates appraise him on.
"But there was lots of good things in his game today."
The Bulldogs' firepower in attack has been a major talking point leading into finals, with Beveridge's side only ranked 10th for scoring and languishing behind most of their top-eight rivals.
But sharpshooter Dickson, who has booted 27.11 this season, declared the Dogs forwards needed to focus on applying more pressure.
"They (the Bombers) were taking the ball out of forward line way too easily and keeping the ball off us and that's not how we want to play," he said.
"I'm hitting the scoreboard a little bit more than I have (but) if I'm not hitting the scoreboard then I want to put that pressure on and do the fundamentals right.
"We had a great start and took the foot off the pedal in the second quarter and let them back into it, which was pretty disappointing.
"We got a bit of a rev-up at half-time. It was a win, it was a good win, it's all you can do is take the four points.
"We're getting wins and we're still thereabouts. It's a massive game next week over in Freo and if we win that it's a massive chance we get a home final."
