Yarraville-Footscray isn’t feeling any extra pressure despite entering the Bowls Victoria weekend pennant premier division competition as the reigning premiers.
The Bulldogs surprised a lot of teams last season to claim their first premier division championship as they knocked off Deer Park in the decider.
Bulldogs’ Wayne Roberts said they were keen to get back out there and have another shot at it.
The Bulldogs will kick off the season underlights on Friday night.
“It has come around really quick,” he said. “We’re looking forward to it.
“We start with a grand final replay against Deer Park and there’s a lot at stake even though it’s the first game.
“We’ve had a pretty big pre-season and had lots of practice matches.
“It’s been hard to get all 16 players for practice matches, so we’ve been trying different people in different positions in case something goes awry.”
The Bulldogs have kept much of its premiership side together.
Cohen Litfin is the big out of the winning team. He had re-signed with the club but work changes in Queensland means he won’t be returning in a loss for the side.
In his absence, the Bulldogs have signed Jay Bye-Norris to replace him.
Norris last year became the third person to win three men’s Victorian state singles titles while he has also represented Australia.
“He fills the hole,” he said. “Jay, I think, he played for Deer Park so I think there will be a little bit of a rivalry between them.”
Roberts said they had about 10 or 11 players leave the club in the off season, with the same number coming across to fill those holes.
He said there were several looking to push into the top side which was a positive thing.
“There’s three people trying to make the top side which helps bolster the second side.
“It needs to be performing to put the pressure on the top side. It’ll be an interesting first few weeks to see how they line up.”
Roberts said they didn’t feel like they were going from being underdogs to be the hunted despite coming in as the reigning premiers.
“It’s an eight team competition and there’s not much difference from the first team to the eighth team.
“Teams like Deer Park have gone out and recruited really hard. Essendon has recruited well and Bundoora is looking really strong.
“If you’re don’t bring your A game on the day, you will be beat. We might be the title holders but the pressure is on every team, every week.”
Meanwhile, Altona will start its season against MCC.
