SYDNEY SWANS defender Rhyce Shaw says the team is disappointed by their effort and lack of intensity in a poor first half against Fremantle last week.

The slow-starting Swans trailed by 48 points at half time against the Dockers in Perth, and kicked only one goal before the main break, before they rallied. They outscored the home side seven goals to three in the second half but the comeback wasn’t enough, the Swans eventually losing their first game of the season by 14 points.

“We pride ourselves on playing each game as hard as we possibly can. We let ourselves down in the first half and we really tried to make a stand and come back in that second half,” Shaw said.

“We were really disappointed.”

The Swans host the in-form Western Bulldogs at the SCG on Saturday afternoon, and Shaw says a fantastic recent record against the Dogs means nothing this weekend. The Bulldogs are winless in their past six clashes with the Swans, who have an average winning margin of almost nine goals across those fixtures, spanning back to round seven 2011.

Shaw believes the new-look Dogs looked fantastic in their win over Adelaide in round four and are a more dangerous proposition under new coach Luke Beveridge.

“It doesn’t really affect us too much, we just worry about week-to-week. The Bulldogs are certainly a different challenge to what they have been previously, so we can’t really read too much into that,” Shaw said. “Their run was amazing, the way they work and pressure the opposition is right up there, so we’re in for a tough challenge.

“The Bulldogs have got immense pressure around the ball, and they get the ball going forward really quickly and that’s really hard to stop.”

Dynamic utility Harry Cunningham could get a huge role this week against one the Bulldogs’ band of runners, with Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae and Luke Dahlhaus all in good touch.

Shaw also considers Adam Goodes a chance to be recalled soon, possibly even for this week’s match.

“I think he played well on the weekend again,” Shaw said of his former skipper’s second game in the NEAFL.

“Hopefully he can get back in this week, but if not I’m sure he’ll be back in soon.”

The speedster says he sees a lot of the Swans’ brand of footy - intensity and full ground tackling pressure – in the Bulldogs outfit.

“Our effort wasn’t there in the first half (last week) and we’ve got to be able to bring that this weekend against the Bulldogs, who’ve been playing some really good footy,” Cunningham said.

“If we bring that pressure and that hit around the footy for four quarters it will go a long way towards winning the game.”

The Swans and long-standing partner Redkite will hold a celebrity match before the Bulldogs clash, to raise money for children with cancer and their families. Club greats Jude and Craig Bolton will be involved in the match, which starts at 1.30pm.