Confidence can make a huge impact in footy.

And for Western Bulldogs forward Bailey Dale, the last six weeks of the 2019 home-and-away season have given him confidence he can deliver consistently at AFL level.

The 23-year-old slotted 20 goals in that period as the Bulldogs stormed home to snatch a finals berth.

Dale inked a new three-year deal in September and a big pre-season has him primed for 2020.

“Confidence is everything in this game, I think,” he told westernbulldogs.com.au.

“If you’re feeling confident and feeling good about yourself and your team, it comes out on game day.

“To have that little six-week patch last year has given me a really good block to start this year… I feel like I’m ready to go for the Marsh Series coming up and hopefully I can push for round one selection.”

He hopes he can echo his form line from the back of 2019 through this year, and is looking to build on his forward game.

“There’s obviously a bit of a blueprint there for me going into this season,” Dale said.

“I’ve been really trying to work on my craft as a forward this pre-season, getting into dangerous spots to have as many opportunities on goal as possible.

“I’m really trying to work on my pressure as well, to keep the ball in my area and create more opportunities for myself and the team.”

A dangerous forward mix is building at the Bulldogs, with Josh Bruce joining Aaron Naughton and Josh Schache as the key pillars, surrounded by the likes of Dale, 2019 leading goal-kicker Sam Lloyd, and premiership duo Tory Dickson and Toby McLean.

“Having Brucey, Naughty and Schache down there, it’s a new look for us,” Dale said.

“We’ve got so many different avenues to goal this year, which we probably haven’t had in previous years.

“To have the three talls down there… for guys like myself, Lloydy, Toby, Dicko, for us to crumb off them and for them to create a contest and bring it to ground, there’s more opportunity for us. 

“And if we can lock it in there, I’m sure those guys will kick goals.”