Amidst the hysteria surrounding Jason Akermanis and disbelief in how often the Western Bulldogs butchered the ball, club great Doug Hawkins had another worry in wake of the shock loss to Essendon last week.

Before a late fightback cut the margin from 38 points early in the final term to nine by the final siren, Hawkins was taken aback when he noticed a handful of instances where teammates appeared to turn on each other.

The cameras of host broadcaster Channel Seven caught Barry Hall cursing a teammate who failed to acknowledge his lead, while captain-in-waiting Daniel Giansiracusa was another, in his case failing to hide his displeasure at a botched pass.

‘‘I agree with you. There was a bit of spite there, it looked that way,'' Hawkins said.

"That's something I hadn't seen before."

A night later in Brisbane, the simmering anger of Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse exploded at three quarter-time when he ordered all players bar his forwards away and proceeded to rip into the men primarily responsible for kicking goals.

Coach-in-waiting Nathan Buckley, in charge of the forward line, was noticeably silent as Malthouse handed out an old-fashioned spray, a move former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas felt was a slap in the face for Buckley.

All, clearly, is not well in either the Magpies and Bulldogs camps, with the pressure starting to intensify heading into the mid-season break. On face value, the Magpies should be relatively happy, sitting in third spot with a 7-3 win-loss record and the Bulldogs just behind with a healthy 6-4 balance sheet.

A closer look, however, shows the Magpies have dropped their past two matches, against Geelong and the Lions, while their other loss came when they managed just four goals in a spiteful clash against St Kilda in round 3. Of equal concern is that they have managed just 21 goals in those three losses, despite recently having the greatest spread of goal-kickers in the history of the game.

For the Bulldogs - a major premiership fancy after their NAB Cup win - their inconsistency has officials worried, and certainly adds further intrigue when the two clubs meet in Sunday's twilight clash at Etihad Stadium.

A quirk of the fixture means they meet for the second time this season, despite not having played every side.

In round one, the Magpies stunned the Bulldogs with a 36-point win, with midfielders-small forwards Alan Didak, Paul Medhurst, Dane Swan and Leon Davis sharing 14 goals.

The Doggies have since failed to reinforce the punters' pre-season optimism. Of their six wins, only one has been against a top-eight side - Sydney - while they have lost to Collingwood, Brisbane, St Kilda and now the Bombers.

There is a perception they can be bullied by opponents prepared to stop their run with ferocious tackling, just as the Bombers did.

The Magpies won the tackle count 59-47 in round one and backpagelead.com.au understands this again has been a major focus among the Pies' brains-trust leading into Sunday.

The absence of injured pair Robert Murphy and Brad Johnson has also hurt the Doggies, while there are growing concerns their forward structure has become too predictable.

Where last year the likes of Josh Hill, Jason Akermanis, Johnson, Murphy and Mitch Hahn were almost equals, with the ball directed to Hill 92 times - the most of any teammate inside attacking 50m - this season Hall already has been delivered the ball 106 times.

‘‘What we have to remember is with Barry Hall, that forward line has changed a hell of a lot. Blokes have pushed up the ground," Hawkins says.

‘‘If Robert Murphy was playing, he would have pushed up the ground, as Johnno (Brad Johnson) would.

‘‘They are not kicking the goals they did last year because the forward line is wide open for Barry to lead into. Barry is not a big pack mark and needs an open forward line."

It's for this reason Hawkins has some sympathy for Akermanis, 33, who he says has been forced to move further up the ground and not allowed to play his customary role of bursting through attacking 50, receiving a handball and converting.

‘‘Aker is playing a different role, running on and off the bench,'' Hawkins said.

‘‘I think it's a bit unfair. He played off the bench against the Bombers and, at that age, you get cold and hot coming on and off."

The Bulldogs don't have to worry about Akermanis this week, who has begun a mid-season sabbatical in wake of the fall-out over his controversial newspaper column about gay footballers.

The Magpies must also make adjustments this week. Skipper Nick Maxwell, so important in sparking run from half-back, was forced deep into defence by the Lions last week.

The Pies were also top-heavy up forward, and took too long to send the likes of the speedy Dale Thomas near goal.

Key forward Travis Cloke has taken the third-most contested marks in the competition (23) but the Magpies aren't utilising that skill enough by presenting him with one-on-one opportunities inside 50.

Their lack of forward pressure against the Lions was also telling. They had only eight inside 50 tackles, having averaged 14 through the season.

All this, as Wayne Carey noted in his weekly podcast on backpagelead.com.au, suddenly has the Magpies again fighting to hold on to a top-four berth.

"It just goes to show you the evenness of the competition, once again," Carey said.

"Collingwood looked indestructible two weeks ago, all of a sudden they have come back to the pack again."

Carey denied claims the Magpies were flat-track bullies, an accusation also levelled at the Bulldogs.

"I think there is more substance to them than that but you can only beat what's put in front of you and they have come across Geelong in great form and a desperate Brisbane at home," he said.

"A lot of sides out there would be worried about Collingwood."

Maybe, maybe not. One thing, however, is certain - the loser of this match will have plenty to worry about.