IF THERE was anything prior to the game that indicated the Bulldogs were about to run less, work less and get beaten by 43 points on Sunday, Scott West certainly didn't notice it.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing," West said, after the game.

"It was a little bit quiet, but not really, not [any different] from any other week.

"It's a pretty quiet group, so I guess it's drawing a long bow to say that would be the case. The first quarter, I thought we fought back pretty well.

"We got within a goal in the second quarter. It was just that last bit of the second quarter that really cost us."

West said the loss hit hard, as the Bulldogs rode into the game on the back of wins over Melbourne and Collingwood and were primed to tackle one of the competition's premier sides.

"It was very disappointing. We need to be taking steps forward. As Sydney have played in the last two Grand Finals, obviously they're one of the benchmarks," he said.

"If we need to take anything out of it, we only lost the second half by a goal. It was just that second quarter that really cost us."

While the Bulldogs were proven to be down on work rate by their GPS devices, the Swans were the epitome of hard running throughout Sunday's game.

"I don't know if you'd ever say it's a lesson, but [the Swans] certainly run very well," he said.

"They do all aspects of the game really well. They're really disciplined around the contests, they're disciplined with their men.

"We'll watch the tape and take something out of it."