Just over a month away from the ‘Opening Round’.

As the clock ticks down on the Western Bulldogs’ Opening Round clash with the Brisbane Lions, both the workload and excitement are intensifying among the playing group.

With the team hitting the road to the Sunshine Coast as part of the 2026 ASICS pre-season camp, defender James O'Donnell shared the group’s overall excitement.

"Everyone is super excited to get going and really bullish on what we can do," O'Donnell said.

"Hopefully, all the training and hard work we've done will come out in the season and we get off to a really bright start that we haven't got to in the past couple of seasons.

"We've been a little slow to start so, hopefully, we can hit the ground running.

"There's definitely a lot of excitement and a lot of optimism in this group."

The Dogs will need a bright start to kick off the year, coming up against the Lions, Giants and Crows within their first three games of the season.

However, the trip to the Sunshine Coast could not have been better timed, with the hot and humid conditions arguably the perfect preparation for the Opening Round clash at the Gabba.

"It's ideal, we've done it the last couple of years," O'Donnell said on the trip up North.

"It helps that we've got Brisbane and it will be similar conditions.

"We should be pretty well prepared for that coming up."

O'Donnell heads into his fourth season in the red, white and blue after his most consistent year to date playing in the Dogs’ backline.

The former cricketer missed just one game in 2026, often given the match-up on the opposition’s most dangerous forward.

Despite the Dogs’ defenders facing external scrutiny heading into the year, the 23-year-old key defender spoke proudly of the efforts and growth demonstrated by the backline group, believing they were up for the challenge.

"It's been really good and I think we're really gelling now," he said.

"It's just about building and being really strong on what we want to do and then going from there.

"There's been a lot of growth within.

“We can take a lot of positives and learning from this pre-season and we can take it into hopefully a positive season.

“We’re pretty bullish about what we can do for sure.”

With the pre-season period rapidly coming to an end, the Bulldogs will have the chance to test their work against the Swans and the Hawks before the season officially starts.

After countless intra-club match simulations, O'Donnell said he was looking forward to putting the hard work to the test against two quality opponents.

“It gets to this point of the pre-season where playing against each other gets a little bit stale, so it’s really exciting to get some really quality opposition to play against before the season starts," he said.

“Swans first, that’ll be good. They’re always a strong outfit – it’ll be nice to get to Whitten Oval and play against them and see where we’re at.

“Same with Hawthorn – another team that was really close to getting there last year.

“Another really good rep that we can get in against quality opposition and see where we really stand."