Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has described the excitement and anticipation that a new AFL season promises, on the eve of the 2018 campaign.

Beveridge addressed the crowd of more than 900 at the Club’s Season Launch and Hall of Fame event at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday night.

“Ultimately, this is a new journey.  A new year.  The romance is starting all over again, which is exciting,” Beveridge said.

“You feel the edge to it, in the new beginnings, and what the team might do this year.

“We’re all very much looking forward to it.

“It’s all very personal, and it’s hard not to get emotional when we all care so much for our players.

“The reality is that good times don’t start unless sacrifices and application are in sync, and they’re churning together.

“The honesty around that application is absolutely critical.  We’re all working together to get ourselves off to a really good start in 2018.

“The essence of great teams is that feeling of worthiness that individuals need to attain, that they strive to achieve.

“That they’re playing in a great team and they’ve earned it, each one of them individually in that team.  That’s what we aspire to.

“Last year seems like an eternity ago, and two or three years ago seems like a lifetime ago.  It’s brand new.

“I’m not going to urge you to be patient, I won’t urge you to be excited.  I won’t urge you to be supportive or even optimistic.

“What I can guarantee is that we will be all of those things.  We’ll be patient, we’ll be excited, and we’ll be supportive.

“We’ll always be optimistic.  We’ll always try and break the mould.  We’ll do our very best to improve and out-perform the competition.”

The Bulldogs kick off the 2018 premiership season against GWS in Canberra on Sunday, March 25.