WESTERN Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade believes that a 61-point margin is not a true reflection of the difference between his side and premier Geelong.
Eade conceded the Dogs were simply "beaten by a better side" on Saturday at Skilled Stadium, but refused to accept the Cats are 10 goals better than his second-placed team.
"I don't think the gap between them and us is as big as it ended up today," he said after the loss.
"We just got beaten by an extremely good side. We had a lot of players down, even when we were hanging in there to half time.
"Quite a few of our so-called better players had down days. I thought our younger players really tried hard, their execution at times let them down and they made poor decisions.
"Having said that, they're a very good side and we know where we're at, and we know what we need to improve on."
Eade said the heavy loss has not derailed the club's campaign to win its second premiership, and is confident the players can rebound sufficiently.
"There's a bit of dint, but there's been a lot of premiership teams over the years that have had a belting during the season," he said.
"Geelong lost here [round five last year] by a fair bit, so I think teams can bounce back.
"There's a fair bit of momentum during the season and our last three or four weeks haven't been great.
"We've just been going. Geelong earlier in the year was just going and now their last month has been terrific.
"The trick for us is to now come out of that downward slump we've had the last four or five weeks and be able to come again.
"I've got no doubt we can do that."
However, he did say the final-quarter blow-out that had the Cats pile on eight goals to one gave his players some areas to work on.
"They're disappointed, and I'm disappointed. I think we all should be disappointed," he said.
"The last 10 or 15 minutes was a bit embarrassing. When you get down by that far, it sometimes becomes a bit inward and the score can blow out a bit more than it should.
"If we'd lost to a team that was out of the eight by that much, there'd be a fair bit of alarm bells.
"The fact that it's the top side and the best side in the competition, and I said coming into the game we'll know where we're at, and we know where we're at, and there's a fair bit of work to do.
"The good thing is, there's still seven weeks to do it in."
Eade also said Brad Johnson, who rolled an ankle in the first term, and Robert Murphy, who suffered cramp in the fourth, will be fine to play next week.
