The Western Bulldogs are back in a position to challenge for the AFL premiership, just four years after their drought-breaking flag.
After missing the top eight for two seasons following their 2016 miracle, the Dogs stormed into last September as one of the form sides.
But having won seven of their last nine games just to qualify, Luke Beveridge’s team ran out of steam and suffered a 58-point elimination final belting at the hands of GWS.
Despite the inglorious end to 2019, the Whitten Oval has been revitalised with youth and it’s already paying dividends.
Half of the 2016 grand final heroes are either retired or no longer at the club.
There have been hard decisions, like trading dynamite forward Jake Stringer and allowing classy midfielder Luke Dahlhaus to depart for Geelong.
But the Dogs have had plenty of talent come back their way.
Just this off-season, St Kilda’s Josh Bruce and Adelaide’s Alex Keath were brought in to solidify their key position stocks.
“We probably thought our key defensive posts over the last few years have looked a bit vulnerable so Alex will shore that up for us,” Dogs football manager Chris Maple told AAP.
“Dale Morris retiring, who has been a warhorse for us, added to the need for a key defender.”
Keath only played 30 games for the Crows, but the Dogs believe the 28-year-old will still improve significantly.
The former cricketer was basically labelled with a ‘buyer beware’ during last year’s trade period due to a leg injury, but ended up playing in the first pre-season match.
“If you watched that (pre-season) game, Alex looked like he had been playing with the Bulldogs for 10 years, not in his first game,” Maple said.
“We’ve got a really strong medical team here with a proven track record of making the difficult, doable; so they’ve worked their wonders again.
“With Alex, it’s pretty much the same operation as Mitch Wallis last year so they’ve seen it all before.”
With the Bulldogs focusing on recruiting talls, they are banking on their young midfield to take them to greater heights.
Marcus Bontempelli, who takes over the captaincy from Easton Wood, is still aged just 24 and will start the season as a Brownlow Medal contender.
Ball magnets Josh Dunkley (aged 23) and Jack Macrae (25) will keep on racking up big disposal numbers as ruckman Tim English (22) develops.
“We’re a pretty young group. You’d like to think we’ve got a really good development program here and they’ll all improve,” Maple said.
“Tim English as he gets more experience is going to be exciting; the ruck’s such a combative sput but he’ll be the main one who’ll really improve.”
Exciting key forward Aaron Naughton produced some spectacular performances last year and should only benefit from the inclusion of Bruce.
But he is racing the clock to be fit for the Dogs’ round one clash with Collingwood after having knee surgery in February.
Premiership hero Tom Liberatore (knee), former Hawthorn player Taylor Duryea (groin) and midfielder Lin Jong (hamstring) are all in rehab mode but could return within the first four rounds of the season.