Hope and anticipation has surrounded the kennel this pre-season, but there is still a level of pragmatism behind the Club’s four walls, leading into this season.

Football Director Chris Grant said the Club is confident in the direction it is heading and the inroads that have been made, but there is still a ways to go.

''We feel like we're doing it the right way, we believe we're starting to put the jigsaw puzzle together,'' Grant told The Age.

“The reality is we're a bottom-four team still - that's where we finished last year.''

One element to the Bulldogs evolving game plan that has really impressed Grant is their hardness around the ball.

''I love the way we play around the footy, that's what I'm most excited about,'' Grant said.

''I've always felt we've never won the really big, key moments in finals. We've potentially been good enough, but we haven't won the big moments to get us across the line.'

The former captain said Senior Coach Brendan McCartney’s defensive brand of football would hold the Bulldogs in good stead when contending with the increased pressure of finals – whenever that may be.

''Brendan's big starting point is, 'How are we around the footy? What do we look like?',” he said.

“There's an enormous amount of support when someone's got the ball, and when they have the footy it feels like there's a lot more red, white and blue in the thick of it. It feels like we're learning to win the key moments now.

''You can play a breathtaking brand of footy and play in prelims. You can have a reasonable defence and an unbelievable offence and be good enough to make prelims, but it's proven over time that if you're not good around the footy you're not going to win the premiership.”