WESTERN Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson believes there is no danger of the Dogs' season mirroring that of 2007, despite the fact they've dropped off at the same time they did last year.
The Bulldogs did not win another game after round 15 last season, and have now lost two on the trot after falling to Geelong and Carlton in the past fortnight.
But Johnson said the club is refusing to panic over the back-to-back losses, and considers the respective seasons "miles apart".
"It's just a bit of a coincidence that the last two weeks we've played against fantastic sides," he said on Monday.
"Geelong is the best side in the competition and Carlton are very much improved and run extremely hard.
"I don't think you can compare the two. We're certainly not going to lose seven in a row, that's for sure."
Johnson said 13 wins isn't the only thing that separates this season from their last, with the players running on an alternative motivation after such a disappointing end to 2007.
"We've got a totally different drive within the group this year," he said.
"We're certainly not going to change anything. There's no need to change anything, we know what we've got to focus on and we know what's going to win us games of footy.
"The last couple of weeks we've dropped away a bit on that later in the game. We just have to keep it up for four quarters and we know we can get a win."
The Bulldogs now face a trip to Canberra to meet Sydney at Manuka Oval on Sunday, with Johnson predicting a "cracking game".
"They're a very hard team and they're coming off a disappointing loss as well," he said.
"It's certainly going to be a high contested, high competitive game because both sides will be extremely desperate to get that win."
Johnson also said it was disappointing to see Dylan Addison to suffer a potentially season-ending knee injury against the Blues, given the 20-year-old's improvement this year.
"He's had a fantastic year and is one of our big improvers, that's for sure," he said.
"But we've got some players that have been knocking down the door at Willy for five or six weeks, so one of those guys will get an opportunity now and I'm sure they'll grab it with both hands."
Addison will have scans on the knee on Monday, with the preliminary diagnosis a strained medial ligament, which is expected to sideline him for eight to 10 weeks.