Wodonga's snapping of a finals drought has inspired the players to continue training since the end of the season.
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The Bulldogs broke a 14-year drought when they won through to the first semi, falling to Wangaratta, on September 10.
"Pretty much all of the group did an eight-week Body Fit challenge, which is a really good effort," Bulldogs' football manager Darren Mathey offered.
"I guess our group is so young, they're looking to take the next step and they've had a taste of finals and they can see what they can achieve as they keep developing."
Mathey says the Bulldogs have a number of players in top condition.
![Riley Thompson (left) and Will Bradshaw show the benefits of a strong pre-season already. Picture by James Wiltshire Riley Thompson (left) and Will Bradshaw show the benefits of a strong pre-season already. Picture by James Wiltshire](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/andrew.moir/ec3fcf9a-9cea-42e8-8cf1-c80588c68785.JPG/r0_0_5058_3372_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"A lot of the guys have dropped a lot of weight and changed their body shape," he suggested.
"Oscar Willding, Will Bradshaw, Noah Bradshaw, Josh (Mathey) has dropped five kgs."
Best and fairest Mathey started pre-season training at Collingwood on Tuesday night.