FOR Rodney Eade, the man who spent seven seasons as coach of the Swans, including the 1996 grand final, it was nice to finally get a win back in town.

But for the Western Bulldogs coach, yesterday's success at the SCG, his first over his replacement Paul Roos since joining the Bulldogs in 2005, was not about personal satisfaction.

"People said that after the game (it must be nice to win in Sydney again) but I'm not like that. I'm not an emotional person where it's like we've got to beat the old side or whatever the case may be," Eade said.

"I think it's more about being able to play well against them (the Swans) up here because it's such a fortress for them."

The Bulldogs have not lost a game this season and this win was considered a true test against a hard, tough-tackling team such as Sydney.

"I think the main thing is the four points, but obviously it was against quality opposition," Eade said. "We were against a team that plays very good contested footy, and we were able to match them in that area. That was pleasing.

"I was pretty confident (they could match the Swans) the way we have gone about it the first six weeks and the pre-season. The guys have a fairly strong resolve to be able to play football that way."

Asked if the performance showed the football world they could be that type of team, Eade replied: "No, not really. I'm not one to say you needed to show the footy world or these people are saying this about us and we've got to prove these people wrong because that's false motivation.

"Having said that, it was certainly a challenge against the best team that does it. It was more about proving to ourselves rather than the football world. What people say about you shouldn't affect the way you go about things. This was just another reinforcement of the steps we've taken forward."

The Dogs head into this weekend's break on 26 points from six wins and one draw, to sit just behind fellow undefeated teams Geelong and Hawthorn on the ladder.

Bulldog midfielder Adam Cooney said with the focus on the Cats and the Hawks he was happy no one was talking up his side as premiership material.

"That doesn't worry us at all. We'll just keep playing the same footy we do and people will eventually take notice," he said.

"I think our contested footy has been up there with the best of them this year. We spoke about it in the pre-season that we really needed to up that and this was probably the perfect test for us today and I thought we acquitted ourselves really well.

"Things have been really positive and there's a lot of belief in the group. We are playing good footy at the moment and we just need to keep that up."

A frustrated Roos said his club needed to "weed out" players lacking the skills needed to win. Of particular concern was inaccuracy in front of goal, poor disposal into the forward line and the constant turnovers through bad ball use.

"I think at the end of the day that was difference," Roos said. "If you keep missing goals, you end up losing games and that's what happened today. It's a problem and the players have got to address it and the players have got to fix it. Clearly today it cost us the game, no doubt.

"We won a lot of ball, tackled really well, played some really good footy. But at the end of the day they (the Dogs) were cleaner with their skills and more accurate with their goal kicking.

"It is a bit frustrating to be a forward when guys are streaming through the middle of the ground and kicking it to the opposition or kicking it along the ground or kicking into the man on the mark.

"Some of our better ball users aren't playing and unfortunately some of the guys who don't use the ball well are getting a game at the moment, which makes it frustrating for the coaches and for some of the players are well.

"And it's also some of our better players not using it as well.

"It's a concern short term but eventually the players will weed themselves out in order to get back to become a premiership team that's the natural evolution of a footy team.

"So at the moment we've got to try to pick guys that can kick the footy."