FREMANTLE coach Mark Harvey concedes much of the damage done in Sunday night's 63-point loss to the Western Bulldogs was self-inflicted, with Fremantle conceding 18 goals from turnovers.

The home side repeatedly sent the ball back to the Bulldogs' midfield in the Subiaco Oval clash, and was punished by the highly skilled Ryan Griffen, Lindsay Gilbee and Nathan Eagleton, who booted three goals each. 

Harvey said the Bulldogs' ability to hurt Fremantle every time they turned the ball over was significant in the 25.7 (157) to 13.16 (94) loss.

"Our inability to hurt the opposition when we had the ball and their ability to be able to hurt us every time we made a mistake or turnover was significant," a flat Harvey said after the loss.

"I think they got something like 18 goals from our turnovers. It's been a disappointing night, particularly from that point of view.

"It was an area of concern tonight. We weren't able to hurt the Bulldogs in any way, shape or form and we weren't causing them to make mistakes and cough up the ball."

The visitors entered the match without star forward Robert Murphy, but had 12 goal-kickers, most of which were midfielders. 

With Roger Hayden a late withdrawal – and the side's cleanest ball user, David Mundy, moved into the midfield – Harvey said the side spent most of the night patching up problem areas.

"We've got to get beyond that and evolve so that we don't have to make moves to hide deficiencies," he said.

"The team was working so hard and it was only a simple error in some cases and then they'd punish you on the scoreboard. That's the sign of a good side."

Fremantle had more inside 50s (51-49) and nearly as many scoring shots as the Bulldogs, but was inaccurate in front of goal.

The side rallied in the third quarter, but was unable to get closer than 16 points, missing a number of easy chances. 

"In the third quarter we had the opportunity to get back in the game and I thought we were," he said.

"Once again it was [because of] inaccuracy that we never closed the gap.

"There were areas where players need to understand that they need to get their games right in order for us to challenge to win games."

Harvey took encouragement from Chris Tarrant's defensive job on Brad Johnson, who was goalless for the night, and Paul Hasleby's return after undergoing a knee reconstruction.

The coach said it was a tough initiation for debutants Stephen Hill and Nic Suban, who both kicked impressive goals, but otherwise were kept quiet. 

"You'd just like to be in the game a lot more and see how they evolve," he said.

"It's nothing to do with the way they played tonight. We had more experienced guys that need to make sure that they're a lot sharper than what we were tonight."