THE WESTERN Bulldogs don't need a big game from Jason Johannisen to win each week, according to coach Luke Beveridge.
However, they do need the Norm Smith medallist to take a team-first approach, despite the constant niggling and attention he is receiving.
On Saturday, West Coast sent noted tagger Mark Hutchings to Johannisen to keep him company and restricted him to just five touches in the first three quarters.
The Bulldogs were forced to move Johannisen forward in the third quarter to give him some respite.
Johannisen then picked up seven touches in the final quarter as the Bulldogs began to grab back the ascendancy although his raking runs were absent.
It is the fourth week in succession Johannisen has struggled.
"'JJ' is just one of our players and he is a very good player and he has been an important player," Beveridge said.
"We don't need him to get 30 possessions to win. He is doing his best to fight against it… as long as he plays the team-based game," Beveridge said.
"He can help us if he focuses on the team-based aspect of it for 100 per cent of the game."
WATCH Luke Beveridge's full post-match press conference
Since the Sydney Swans' George Hewett blanketed Johannisen in round 12, the Bulldog has averaged just under 14 touches a game and not had 20 touches in a game.
In the 36 games before that he had exceeded 20 disposals in all but five games.
He has been a star in the past four years with his game breaking run off half back helping to make the Bulldogs a very dangerous counterattacking team.
West Coast coach Adam Simpson was rapt with Hutchings effort on the speedster.
"I thought that was a win for us. It forced him out of their backline and he kept him to [five] touches up to three-quarter time," Simpson said.
With Robert Murphy returning, and Shane Biggs and Matt Suckling playing as high defenders, Beveridge said the Bulldogs were still well equipped to attack from the back half.
"I don't get caught up with what is going on with him all the time," Beveridge said.
"Ultimately there are other players in the back end who can get it done."
