The Western Bulldogs, on the eve of potentially their finest AFL season in years, will have to start their campaign without skipper Brad Johnson.

The veteran is nursing a calf injury and admitted on Thursday he would not be ready in time to face Collingwood in their season-opener on Sunday, March 28.

"It's going really well , I've started to get through a bit of training this week," Johnson said.

"I've done a lot of running and I've been pulling up pretty well but I've still got to get a fair bit of footy work under my belt before the club would probably consider me.

"I'd like to think I'd be playing before round three."

Johnson said the club had been invigorated by the recruitment of former Sydney forward Barry Hall, who starred in their NAB Cup victory with seven goals, adding to the pre-season hype.

"I'm sure he would have liked to have just snuck in and kicked a few goals and played his role within the side," Johnson said.

"He's done that extremely well over the pre-season period but as we all know that's going to be forgotten fairly quickly and what he produces over the home and away season we're really excited about.

"He even said last night he was hoping more to go under the radar a little bit but he's found his feet very quickly which just shows his maturity as a player and as a person.

"The amount of education that's been thrown his way, he's been able to put that in his mind and get out on the ground and execute.

"I'm sure his form will continue for the whole year."

Johnson admitted there were high expectations from supporters this season, with the addition of Hall, the NAB Cup win and a generally fit list, but he cautioned the side had a long season in front of it before it could justify its ambitions.

"We've got a lot of hard work to go. We start again, every side's even now and we've managed to get through the NAB Cup pretty well which was great for our football club but we understand we've got to win a lot of games in front of us and there's 15 other sides trying to beat us," he said.

"We know that if we put the hard yards in we're able to win more than we lose but it's the unknown at the moment.

"Our fitness levels are as good as probably they've ever been ... we've just been very consistent and put ourselves in very good shape leading into the home and away season.

"The supporters are excited, as they should be, and we've got a fantastic list - they know and expect us to go out and compete hard every week and that's all we can do.

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