Luke Beveridge admitted he needed to remind himself to be patient after a loss to Fremantle that left the coach and his Western Bulldogs players "a little bit gutted", but determined that his team makes the most of its chances in future.

After conceding the first five goals of the game and trailing by 34 points in the second quarter, the Dogs surged back to level the scores with less than three minutes left. Beveridge was convinced they would have won if Mitch Wallis had gathered a low, bounced pass from Bob Murphy in the frantic final moments.

"It was an enormous effort by our players. We're a little bit gutted. If not for a ground ball I reckon we win that game," Beveridge said after the 13-point defeat. "We worked our way back into it. I couldn't be more proud of everyone. To almost beat the top side in round seven – I'm enormously disappointed for the players.

"I say to them that I'm not anxious – and I'm not – we continue to recognise their good work and we're encouraged and enthusiastic about everything that they're doing.

"We do need to be a little bit patient but we've shown good enough signs to think that we can continue to climb this year, so it's what we do with that now. We need to make sure that in the ensuing weeks, we capitalise on the opportunities."

The gloss was taken off another outstanding performance from Nat Fyfe when the Brownlow favourite was reported in the third quarter for tripping after reflexively throwing out his leg and bringing down Koby Stevens as the Bulldog changed direction. He is likely to escape with a fine and remain eligible for the medal, but coach Ross Lyon was more concerned with what he saw as an issue with the much-maligned Etihad Stadium surface.

"The left-hand side's as dry as a chip, the other side people are slipping and sliding and slipping over like sprinklers have been on an hour before the game," Lyon said. "I'm not sure, but it was very confusing when I walked the ground ... If someone can explain that to me.

"It's quite dangerous for players when one side's as dry as a chip and the other side is like a slippery slide. Anyone that slipped on that side, Western Bulldogs or Fremantle, I think they've got a fair contributing factor."

Lyon was adamant his team had dominated key areas – especially a 63-46 inside 50 win and 18-10 in the last quarter – sufficiently to deserve victory. "They just got out the back on us a little bit. They kicked very accurately – 14.4, you don't do that too often. They lifted their intensity."

A free kick count of 25-11 in the Bulldogs' favour clearly didn't please Lyon either. "There's a bit of rub of the green I thought could have gone our way for a fair portion of the day, but sometimes that happens," he said. "I'd like our blokes with their head over the ball ... I thought [Michael] Walters almost got decapitated early. I would have liked that to have had a look at – not a report, but a free kick would have been handy."

Beveridge said he hoped his players had been ready for the challenge despite conceding the first five goals of the game, and saw the game as an important indicator that he is coaching a strong group  willing to persist under duress.

"Like the Sydney game in particular, it's just another feather in their caps to fight their way back and learn a little bit about playing a side like Fremantle who don't let up.

"You'd like to think that we were ready, it was just their physical dominance early through their bigger mids. They won the ball inside and just had a little rim outside where they were able to get it forward. We've been OK in that area."

He said Tory Dickson's career-high seven goals was reward for a strong pre-season and outstanding recent work in less heralded parts of his game.

Of the surface, Beveridge said he actually complimented a stadium curator on it before the game. "Both sides played on it – it was fine."