After a momentum gathering end to 2013, Brendan McCartney and his players know it won’t come easy next season, and while the focus is squarely on improvement, it’s consistency of performance that the Senior Coach will keep a very close eye on.

“[Improvement] that’s our expectation and that's the requirement and that's what we know the Club wants from us — to get better and to be able to sustain some good performances for longer,” McCartney told SEN this morning.

"Probably the measure for us is (that) there are no blowouts. That's no guaranteeing it won't happen but if we lose a game we bounce back strongly the next week and it doesn't turn into two or three losses in a row and that's been our habit the last two or three years."

A strong trade period, an early pick (four) in the upcoming draft, and the natural progression of some emerging talent, suggests the Bulldogs are well-placed to make improvements next season and two of those players creating interest are Jake Stringer and Jackson Macrae.

McCartney is optimistic about the contribution both Stringer and Macrae will make to the team from next year, after they were picked with the clubs’ first two selection in last years’ draft and have both showed promising signs in their debut seasons.

"Jake's still got a little bit of work to do physically to just handle the physical demands of the game and the running component of the game,” McCartney said.

"Jack Macrae is a bit more advanced in that area but they've both still only played 13 or 12 games ... we know that the general progression rate is four to six years before they hit their best but they're both really talented young men.

"We think we've got two great players there."