THE WESTERN Bulldogs are ready to face a tough five-week stretch with the same confidence and self-belief that has driven their unbeaten start to 2008, according to defender Brian Lake.

Four of the Bulldogs’ next five matches are against sides currently sitting in the top eight, including an eagerly-anticipated Round 10 clash against the unbeaten Hawthorn in Tasmania.

Lake says the Bulldogs’ come-from-behind win over Fremantle is just another sign of a young side playing with great confidence and spirit.

“Our skills were down and the things we wanted to do weren’t working,” Lake said.

“The coach put it on us at three-quarter time that we were playing like we didn’t really want to win.

“Even 'Johnno' (skipper Brad Johnson) got us in a group before 'Rocket' (Rodney Eade) spoke to us and said a few things that needed to be said and gave the guys a bit of a rev up, and it worked.”

Lake said it was another display of the growing maturity of the young Bulldogs that the players responded with a six-goal final term to steal the game.

“That pressure and the ability to make the tackles stick just wasn’t there in the first three quarters,” he said.

“But you could see in the last quarter our pressure in the forward line and the way we worked hard to shut down their attempts to get the ball into their forward 50.”

Lake said Eade had urged the players to back themselves in the final quarter. With the Bulldogs just six points down at the 20-minute mark, Lake even found himself surging toward goal with a shot which missed its target from 50 metres.

“I knew as soon as it came off the boot that it hadn’t come off too well,” he said.

“I just thought we had to take the game on. We were a couple of goals down and there was no point standing in the defensive 50; (we) might as well take them on and try to kick a goal.”

Eade said after the game the Bulldogs had set themselves a target of winning at least four of their seven interstate games this season.

Lake said the players believe they have a realistic chance of finishing in the top four and are ready for some big challenges in the coming weeks.

“Two wins on the road already this season helps a fair bit. We’ve got a number of hard games coming up, including Hawthorn and Geelong soon, so it’s going to be a good test for us,” he said.

“But just the way we’re playing and the confidence we’ve got at the club at the moment, we don’t care if we’re three or four goals down; we know we can still win the game.”