While he is drawing on his experience from stints at Geelong and Essendon, Coach Brendan McCartney says he is out to build the Bulldogs’ own identity.

“[We are incorporating] some components of it… but still us, we are not Geelong, we are the Western Bulldogs,” McCartney said.
“You can’t ignore patience and clear stability and developing a brand of footy that the harder the game is the more it stands up and doesn’t dissolve.

“And to drive that style you need certain types of people and certain types of players.

“Certainly you take some of that but we are our own entity and our own club and we will develop our own long term great players – the way we are at the moment.”

McCartney has a wealth of experience in coaching, from local level at Ocean Grove through to the elite level and has a strong focus on building from the contest out.