WESTERN Bulldog star Jason Akermanis was under no illusion as to what cost the Dogs victory against North Melbourne in yesterday's Telstra Dome thriller.

"There was a bit of selfish footy with blokes trying to win off their own bat and go away from the team stuff," the 276-game veteran said.

"When that happens and we miss too many tackles then we become our own worst enemy.

"No disrespect to them (North Melbourne) because they played really well, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot and making mistakes."

Other than Brad Johnson's now-famous after-the-siren miss, the Bulldogs failed to take their chances on a few occasions in the last quarter.

Johnson also missed two gilt-edged opportunities during that hectic final term, while costly turnovers through the middle of the ground also hurt the side.

A bitterly disappointed Akermanis could not hide his disappointment.

"It was a game we feel we should have won and should have iced early," he said.

"We had lots of shots at goal and missed some easy ones and that kept them in the game."

The triple premiership player said the Dogs, like the Brisbane sides in the early part of the decade, had to develop a killer instinct.

"We've got to get better at that," he said. "When we're up we got to put the foot down and keep going."

The Dogs led by four goals at half time but were outscored nine goals to five after the main break by a Kangaroo side inspired by the 250th appearance of favourite son Brent Harvey.

Akermanis said Harvey's milestone played no part, rather the trip to Perth last week and the fact the side had been up for so long might have shaved the edge off the third-placed Dogs.

"I've always felt that if we play our best footy then we are hard to stop and today was a good example of that," he said.