Caleb Daniel says Bulldogs players are ready to seize opportunities that present this season
Bulldogs star Caleb Daniel spent more than nine hours in the car with his dog to return to Victoria in readiness for training, declaring he and his teammates are ready and raring to get the season going again.
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Western Bulldogs defender Caleb Daniel says his team would be AFL-fit by a potential June 11 restart, ready to take advantage of a season he says is ripe with opportunity.
Daniel on Sunday drove home from Adelaide with 16-month-old rottweiler Hugo to ramp up training ahead of a season that could start by early next month.
As Adelaide again implodes and West Australian clubs face significant advantages, Daniel said the Dogs saw potential in a season where the team that can best deal with adversity will finish on top.
Daniel lauded former captain Easton Wood, who has taken banned midfielder Lachie Hunter under his wing and is training with the former vice-captain.
Hunter will miss four games for his recent Middle Park car crash, but Daniel said the Dogs could hit the ground running if the season was to start with as little as four weeks notice.
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“I think so, there are certain things you can’t train for and we haven’t don’t as much skilled-based stuff as you normally would but we would be able to get those training loads up and get ready for games. We will start lifting up to match intensity so I reckon in a month we would be right,” he told the Herald Sun.
“There is stuff you can’t really do until you are in training (with a group) but as soon as we get into more of a team training mode there will be a lot more benefits that will come out of it than people might think.
“The season is definitely an opportunity, if you look at it like that we are really poised to have a real crack at it. Through the zoom chats with the boys, they are really excited to get back and looking forward to going out there with 40 mates and training and playing games. You want to put on a good show.”
Daniel drove home to Adelaide after the season went into hiatus to spend time with his parents and relatives.
After wishing mum Karen a happy Mother’s Day, the drive home was scheduled to take up to nine hours, taking into account rottweiler Hugo’s regular toilet stops.
While he was away he missed Hunter’s transgression but he says Wood’s leadership in teaming up with his teammate to train smacks of the layers of leadership at the club.
“It was really good leadership. Lachie is the first to admit he made a pretty big error of judgment and with the way he has put himself into his training, although he has that four-week ban he will still be a massive leader without the title,” he said.
“They will work perfectly together. They are pretty close and live near each other in Port Melbourne so I am sure Easton would have chucked his hand up and tried to help out as much as possible considering they live close.”
Daniel has been watching the AFL pay saga from afar and says players will be prepared to take pay cuts under a revised CBA if it comes to that over summer.
“Yeah, absolutely. I think we can’t fully expect the AFL to pay it all out. We have lost a lot of money through this period and with no fans we will take our cut and a lot of guys are happy to. We had a chat about it as a group and we back the AFLPA and all the players to do the right decision by us. (Patty Dangerfield) is doing a great job. He has full support from the players. We are backing him in and he’s got all the support in the world from us,” he said.
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Originally published as Caleb Daniel says Bulldogs players are ready to seize opportunities that present this season