The Western Bulldogs have been making all the right noises in pre-season, with solid wins over Brisbane and Hawthorn taking them to the NAB Cup semi-finals, in an ominous sign for the season proper. So after consecutive preliminary losses, are the Dogs ready to take the next step?

Indeed, this is the question everybody down at The Kennel has been asking and Bulldogs 329-game legend Doug Hawkins came out this week claiming 2010′s list is ready to end Footscray’s 56-year premiership drought.

New recruit Barry Hall’s haul of six goals last weekend against the Hawks enhances that argument, as the Bullies attempt to answer the perennial criticism that they lack a power forward.

Hawkins enthusiastically commented: “I really think this is the year. It has to be. The difference for this group, in comparison to years before, is that they believe they belong there.”

But there’s a sense of desperation about Hawkins’s comments, perhaps considering the impending retirements of crucial veterans like skipper Brad Johnson, 33, Jason Akermanis, 33, Nathan Eagleton, 31, and even Hall at 33-years-young.

It seems this may be the final year of the Dogs’ premiership window.

So the progress of Hall, who has been out of AFL ranks for a while, is of paramount importance to the Bullies as they seek to improve on their shortcomings in 2008 and 2009, although coach Rodney Eade insists the Dogs won’t rush the ex-Swan.

Hawkins continued: “When Barry became available, I was very keen to get him. He’s a big, strong, quality forward, not just a tall forward but a quality forward.

“You look at our last two years, the preliminary finals from last year; St Kilda had (Nick) Riewoldt and Geelong had (Cameron) Mooney and (Tom) Hawkins to kick the ball long to.”

Indeed, in the pressure-cooker environment of finals footy the importance of a big forward as an outlet proved crucial in 2009 and that point was made here on The Roar last September.

But Eade doesn’t want to put all of his eggs in the one basket and he continues to place low expectations on Hall.

Eade told the media yesterday: “There’s no expectations and there’s no pressure on him to be able to kick goals. We can kick goals anyway, so that’s not an issue.

“As long as he fits into the team ethos and he’s a team-orientated person and the main thing is to get him some game time.”

It appears the Bulldogs coach wants to instill the belief that the Bulldogs side of 2009 is good enough to take that next step in 2010, with or without a firing Hall, although there’s no doubt he’d prefer the latter.

And extroverted Dogs veteran Jason Akermanis offered some interesting insights yesterday, claiming the Bullies were more advanced this year than they were this time last season.

“I think our pre-season has been enormous. If there’s any club that’s done what we’ve done I’d be very surprised,” Akermanis said.

“And I think you’ll see in the second halves of games where this group comes into its own.”

There’s no doubt after successive preliminary final failures, the Bulldogs players would have plenty of motivation to dig deep in pre-season and Akermanis’ comments appear very positive for Dogs fans.

The former three-time Brisbane Lions premiership winner added: “This is the window. We spoke about it last year as well and there’s not too many years where we get that group in their late-twenties. That’s what I think the side in Brisbane had.”

But perhaps Dogs fans shouldn’t get carried away with the club’s NAB Cup run, as the pre-season competition isn’t always the best indicator of immediate success.

Nevertheless, Eade and Akermanis stressed winning any footy game was a positive and were hoping to defeat Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

Eade said: “I think it creates good habits and if we can win tomorrow night and get to the grand final it would be terrific and good experience for our guys but I’ve got to reinforce Round 1 is our most important focus.”

Akermanis added: “I know in the side that I played with in 2001, we got the chance to go into the pre-season cup final and we played Port Adelaide and I think it was a great experience for us back then, for that group.”

And while Akermanis’s Brisbane went onto lose that pre-season cup grand final, later that year the Lions won the first of three consecutive AFL premierships.

It may be a far-fetched omen, but after waiting 56 years, Dogs fans may take any glimmer of hope.

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