How's All Australian full-back Brian Lake coming along after he had hip and knee surgery during the off-season?
He's running three or four times a week at the moment and he's probably ahead of schedule. It was always going to be touch and go as to whether he's right to play in round one.
If he had a hiccup with his rehabilitation he was probably going to miss, but he's been able to progress pretty well. It just a matter now of him getting some fitness work into him over the next three to four weeks. He's running between five and seven kilometres every time he runs - he's doing various distances and intensity. At this stage I'm confident he'll be able to play in the last week of the pre-season.
A lot of other teams seem be talking about tweaking their game plans to be more defensive. Is that something the Bulldogs have been working on over summer?
We've probably been working on that over a period of time. In '05 and '06 we were really attacking and I think the defensive part of our game has improved since then.
Last year, up until we got some illness and injuries, we were the second-best defensive team in the competition as far as points against. So that's something we've improved every year, but it's obviously going to go to another level in the competition and we need to be able to match that.
The trick is that footy is a cyclical game and now the question might become: How do you score? Teams will work out ways, whether it's this year or next year, to score more. So it might even switch back again. But certainly you'd imagine 2011 is going to be a very defensive year.
You haven't been a big fan of the introduction of a substitute. Have you changed your view over the pre-season?
I certainly don't agree with it. But from our point of view we think we can get an advantage out of it, to be honest. We think it will suit us. I think it's a positive for us, but I don't think it's the way to go for footy.
Anyway, that's the decision that's been made and I'm not trying to criticise it, it's just my opinion. We'll see how it unfolds, but from our point of view we've done a bit of work on it and we think it'll be good for us.
How do you think it can be a positive for the team?
We'll wait and see. We think our fitness work we've done over the last two or three years has been very good - we've had very solid pre-seasons. We think we've got a flexible side that can play in a lot of different positions. We've been doing that over the last few years as well.
That'll go to another level as players will need to be on the ground a bit longer, so we think we can mix and match.
Will your number of rotations actually drop off much?
We were one of only a few times that were high - 130 plus. The competition I didn't think was that bad, so it was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. I would imagine we'd probably drop from 130 to 110 interchanges per game. But only time will tell.
You've made three preliminary finals in a row. Why should Bulldogs fans believe this might be the year you will crack the big one?
It's a tough competition. The top four team from last year will be up there again and we think Hawthorn will be the big improvers. So you need some things going your way with injuries and everything coming good at the right time.
But while the players we've lost were terrific servants of the club, and legends if you look at Johnno [Brad Johnson], their output last year wasn't exceptional. It was OK.
So I think as we get [Shaun] Higgins and [Callan] Ward back, along with the players we've recruited, things are looking good. We've injected a bit of pace, which is vital to break the zones, so I think there's a bit of energy about the group and belief we can take the next step.
