LUKE Beveridge hasn't ruled out resting Tom Boyd against Greater Western Sydney next week after the former Giant appeared listless against Melbourne on Sunday.
Boyd, 19, was subbed out of the Dogs' 39-point loss in the third quarter after one handpass and one hit-out to that point.
In comparison, 20-year-old Melbourne forward Jesse Hogan was a ball of energy and one of the Demons' best players after missing last week's game.
Five talking points: Melbourne v Western Bulldogs
Beveridge conceded afterwards Boyd was "probably due for a bit of spell" and that there wasn't anything physical that influenced the decision to sub him out.
"He's OK. He wasn't having his greatest day. Maybe it is a sign that he's a little bit weary and he needs a spell, but we'll work through that during the week," Beveridge said.
"The important thing for Boydy is he gets as much game time and experience as he can without cooking him, and he might be at the end of a little cycle and we'll look at whether or not we give him a spell.
"He'll probably want to play against the old mob but we'll make a common-sense decision."
Click here to watch Luke Beveridge's full post-match press conference
There were plenty of Bulldogs who struggled on Sunday as the Demons withstood a third-quarter charge to run away with the game.
Marcus Bontempelli was one of those, with Demons' midfielder Bernie Vince playing a terrific tight tag on the young Bulldog.
Beveridge said Bontempelli would be questioned this week on how his body felt after just 12 disposals.
"He got some attention today and he does every week and he's trying to work his way through it," he said.
"He's got aspirations to be one of the best and it will take a little bit of time and we'll talk to him during the week and see how he's feeling.
"Mitch Honeychurch had a rest today because he needed one and maybe one or two of our other younger boys might need a rest.
"We can't rest them all. Our VFL side had almost a 150-point win today ... lots of boys put their hands up so we'll see what we do during the week with selection."
Beveridge rued the Bulldogs' start, in which they dominated the first-quarter inside 50s but trailed by a goal at quarter time.
He refused to blame last Sunday's physical loss to Fremantle, nor would he single out players he felt needed to lift.
He also said the "shabby" way the Dogs played had caught him by surprise after their encouraging start to the season.
"We probably didn't see today coming," he said.
"We've talked about our resilience and how we've been pretty good for most of the year but we stumbled a little but today, there was no doubt about it, and so it was just a general performance thing, really.
"We put it down to a lot of things. To actually try and identify specifics, you'd probably do something else an injustice or miss out on doing something else justice."
Beveridge confirmed Brett Goodes had suffered a broken arm in the last quarter.
Marcus Bontempelli had a tough day against Bernie Vince. Picture: Getty Images
