Break just in time for battered Dogs

The first break of the season has come at the ideal time for the battered bodies of the Western Bulldogs, coach Rodney Eade has admitted.

Eade's men are unbeaten with six wins and a draw in 2008 and sit in third position on the ladder behind only Geelong and Hawthorn.

Last round's breakthrough win against the Swans in Sydney has heightened expectations at Whitten Oval, as well as fuelled confidence and belief.

But a relaxed Eade told the media at the club's Footscray headquarters that a football-free weekend for most of his players would be a positive.

"I suppose there are arguments both ways," Eade said.

"One is the momentum, you would like to keep it going I suppose, but we've had four or five guys that who have carried some minor complaints."

"The break gives them a chance to freshen up and I think most teams would be in that situation."

"From our point of view I think it is terrific timing."

When the Bulldogs resume they will travel west to take on an under-fire Fremantle.

However, the Dockers' horror start to their 2008 campaign doesn't mean Eade and his men are already planning a celebratory drink in Perth.

"If you look at the week before they pushed Geelong to a point and they had a fantastic first half against Melbourne," Eade said of Fremantle.

"For six quarters out of eight they have been terrific. Unfortunately for them they had a bad half of football."

"I don't think it'll take a great deal to find that spirit, they've shown that it is there."

"If they can do that to Geelong and playing on their home ground, where we play them, it's going to be a tough ask for us."

Eade said he understood the pressure Dockers coach Mark Harvey was under after his side's 1-6 start in his first full season at the helm.

"I think at times as a coach you get under siege. It's going to happen to all of us and it has happened to most of us," Eade explained.

"The blow torch tends to go up on the back of a bad loss. I have no doubt Mark will come through that."