Bulldogs veteran Daniel Cross says he feels invigorated ahead of the 2013 season and is excited at the prospect of nurturing the next generation of players in the coming years.

The midfielder, who enters his 13^th year at the Club, has been working closely with a number of his young teammates this pre-season and has high hopes for the future of the football club.

“We’ve certainly got experience in the group and we want to nurture those guys through together,” Cross said.

“They’ve got another season under their belt, a lot of guys who are… under 21 or 22 played a lot of footy last year [and] got some great experience.

“It’s a great thing for me, it’s exciting, we have got new coaching staff and new fitness staff and I feel invigorated and… I am happy with that.”

Regularly fielding one of the most inexperienced teams in the league last year, the Bulldogs will approach the season looking for more cohesion from the young, developing group - as well as individual improvement.

Identifying four key focus areas for 2013, Cross is confident that if the team can implement the desired processes then it will put then in a good position towards the end of the season.

“We have got four key areas that we are going to focus on this year… and we believe if we hit those targets it will give us a good chance to be where we want to be at the end of the year,” he said.

“Every team has those targets I’m sure and everyone is trying to do the same thing.

“If we are able to achieve those things then it gives me great confidence.”

The veteran midfielder said a large focus over the pre-season has been on simulating match drills under fatigue to combat last year’s pattern of dropping off late in quarters.

“Each club does it differently but we take pride in our certain areas where we do a lot of craft in our positions,” he said.

“Working tirelessly when you are fatigued comes back to the last quarters, late in quarters, red time.

“You saw us probably tired out there [at training] being able to execute in drills under fatigue, [it] is an area that we want to focus on - so that was the idea behind the session today."