‘Hard work starts here’, is written on the wall in the players’ gym, and it’s written on the players faces as they hit the track for week four of the preseason. 

If there is a buzz word around the kennel this preseason, it’s work. 

The story of the Bulldog’s rise from 14^th place on the AFL ladder in 2014, to sixth place and an Elimination Final appearance has been well told, but nobody at Victoria University Whitten Oval is taking the rapid rise for granted, least of all former skipper Matthew Boyd, who is doing all he can in making sure the young Dogs maintain the rage.

“You hear it a bit in AFL circles, about driving standards and maintaining standards, and moving them forward, as older players we’ve got to keep those training standards really high and keep holding each other to account and hopefully the performances take care of themselves.

“It’s really about maintaining that momentum that we’ve built last year, but building on that and not just resting and letting that take us into next season. 

“We’ve really got to push hard to improve for next year.”

AFL history is littered with sides who have a breakout year, only to fall back down the ladder the following season.  Boyd says the challenge is to keep improving.

“If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backwards and teams catch up.

“You see that happen regularly throughout the year, so we’ve got to guard against that as  a footy club. 

“We did have a good year last year but we’ve still got lots to improve on and the fact that we’ve identified those areas that we need to improve on, and we’ve put a program in place to make sure those areas get worked on, then that will hold us in good stead for next year.”