Fresh from a near best-afield performance against Brisbane on Saturday night, Western Bulldogs midfielder Mitch Wallis was upbeat, but level about his team's performance as it turns for the second half of the season.

"We weren't overly happy with how we went in the first half; I think we gave up a few opportunities for ourselves and through poor skill errors we kept them in the game, really," he said.

"I think our best is really good, and sometimes when we take the foot off the pedal a bit, we get scored heavily against. But I think it was a step forward tonight."

The Bulldogs looked wobbly early in the third quarter, with the Lions creeping to within nine points before being blown away by 12 goals. "We were a little too adventurous at times and playing on too much, and poor skill errors and overuse just cost us," Wallis admitted. "We'll look at that during the week; we'll review it and hopefully we'll take it out next week."

He said Jake Stringer, who kicked five goals alternating between attack and midfield, "could be one of the most dynamic players in the AFL".

"He's an amazing player. I think he's searching for some consistency in his game as well, but he's so damaging up forward and he's a ball winner when he gets into the centre square," he said. "He's going to be a great player for us for a long time, but he's just searching for the same consistent effort, week-in week-out."

"[If] you look at the young side that we are, we're all looking for that. But there's still a lot of belief in our group, and every game we go into, we believe we can win.

"That's really important for a young group, and obviously your confidence builds when you have wins and you start playing good footy. Tonight's another stepping stone to becoming a great team."

Wallis also said forward Tom Boyd was providing the team with the focal point it had lacked for much of its recent history. Boyd kicked four goals, two from free kicks, but it was his marking in the second half that stood out.

"He's bringing a target, and that's what we've yearned for, for a long time. We obviously had Barry Hall a few years back, but Tommy provides a contest every time we kick it to him.

"It was going to click one day and it did click tonight, and he hit the scoreboard a bit. The more games he gets under his belt, the better he'll become.

"It's good when your tall blokes can kick goals; obviously it makes it a lot easier as a midfielder, and a few of the midfielders kicked some goals too. It's a great sign when you can spread the load."

Wallis himself hit the scoreboard, kicking three straight goals to go with his 23 possessions (14 of them contested), five tackles and five clearances in a perfectly rounded game.