As to be expected, Western Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy was a popular interview at the AFL Season Launch captain’s media call on Thursday, and the questions all had a similar theme: how far can the Dogs go in 2016?

After a rapid rise in 2015 finishing in sixth place, Murphy couldn't be drawn on ladder predictions for the upcoming season.

Like last year, Murphy said, the playing group have refused to put limitations on themselves.

Seemingly, the more pundits expectations and opinions outside the kennel may have changed in the past off-season, the more the expectations within the Club have stayed the same.

"We were on a discovery last year and we genuinely didn't know how good we were, or how good we could be, and in some respects that hasn't really changed," Murphy told gathered media at Etihad Stadium.

"This team has a lot of improvement left in it, and our job is to get to work and support that.

"[You do that] by preparing, and every time you get on the park, to fight like you mean it."

With the opening game of the AFL premiership season just over 10 days away for his Bulldogs, Murphy caught journalists off guard momentarily when he nominated the Dockers as the Dogs' ideal round one opponent.

"If I could have picked an opponent for round one it would have been Freo, and I say that with the greatest respect for Fremantle.

"Because they come for the fight every single time we play them so what better way to start the season than coming up against one of the best."

And when the siren sounds on Easter Weekend and the next chapter in the Bulldogs story begins, it won't be those external expectations running through his mind, but something slightly more pressing.

"When we run out here to play Fremantle, if we're worried about the expectations of the media contingent, we're in trouble.

"We'll be worried about how we can knock over one of the toughest sides we've seen in years."