BROWNLOW Medallist Adam Cooney believes he will be able to handle the added pressure and expectation created by his win.

The Bulldogs midfielder told Sunday's Herald Sun that he has tried to push the honour aside when preparing for the new season.

"I've tried to stay out of the media spotlight as much as I could since I won the Brownlow," he said.

"I've gone into hiding a little bit, but it's something I'm proud of and hopefully I can continue on and have a good year this year.

"Everything is exactly the same. People just call out to me that I won the Brownlow ... like I didn't know already.

"I got used to it last season and it's something all midfielders get."

The 23-year-old required knee surgery in October and, while he doesn't start running for two weeks, he's confident he'll make a NAB Cup appearance and be ready for round one.

"I was lucky enough to have a full pre-season last year and I found the first half of the year a lot easier because you're used to working and it felt a lot better," he said.

"It'll definitely be harder coming from rehab, but I've just got to do as much as I can and make the best of it.

"You don't want to peak too early anyway and I think we travel to Perth twice in the first four weeks so that gets our long travel out of the way and we've got Darwin in pre-season as well. If we can win those games it'll get us off to a good start."

Cooney added that his teammates are fitter than they were at this time last year, thriving under new fitness coach Bill Davoren, and that they carry a lot of resolve after September's preliminary final loss.

"I think fitness will be a factor and if we can maintain that later in the year coming into finals I think we'll have a good shot at it."

The Bulldogs play Essendon in Darwin to kick off their NAB Cup campaign.

They start the season proper against Fremantle at Subiaco Oval on Sunday, March 29.