In this week's Game Plan, Swans defensive coach, John Blakey, talks about the defender's efforts in last week's loss to Collingwood and what they should expect against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday...

Obviously we were disappointed that we lost to Collingwood on the weekend, but we certainly thought we held our own in defence. The game went down to the wire and we didn’t get over the line when it counted, so we’re disappointed in that fact but were pleased with some of the efforts that were made.

We thought Heath Grundy did a fairly good job on Travis Cloke and even though he kicked three, we though Heath did a good job of containing him. Teddy Richards has played well all year and he continued his good form on the weekend, and the smalls were OK as well.

We’re always trying to get better and the fact that we have been is a positive we’ve already got out of this year. From outside the club, a lot of people wouldn’t expect us to be where we are at present, but from within we certainly have expectations among the playing group and we’re trying to improve all the time.

Hopefully this year we can bridge that gap between the Geelong’s and the Collingwood’s of the competition that have been so good over the last few years. We do have a lot of good young talent coming through our back six, who we hope will help the club continue to improve in the future.

I think Alex Johnson has had a fairly solid year in what is just his second year of league football. He plays as our third tall defender every week and with his pace he is also able to play on a small. I think his versatility certainly helps us out because it means we don’t have to get players on and off the ground when an opposition changes their structure because Alex is able to adjust either way, and that is one of his great strengths. He’s also a good competitor and a good athlete, and we’re really pleased with the way he’s progressing.

Tony Armstrong probably hasn’t played a lot of football, but certainly is a very good talent and a very good ball user and when he gets his opportunity to play big minutes - like he did against Essendon - he showed what he is capable of doing. He had 11 or 12 possessions in the first quarter, so he’s very smart and knows how to get the ball and knows how to use it.

This weekend we take on the Western Bulldogs and we can’t afford to rest on our laurels ahead of this game. They have had a changing forward line over the last few weeks and have experimented with different players up there including Brian Lake and Tommy Williams.

They also have some talented smalls in Tory Dickson, who is a very good player who is playing as a leading-type centre-half forward as a small, as well as Daniel Giansiracusa who has been a very good player for them for many years.