THE WESTERN Bulldogs won't change their game style despite adding former Collingwood spearhead Travis Cloke to their forward line, Dogs veteran Matthew Boyd says.

Aside from the emergence of Tom Boyd late last year, the Bulldogs have lacked a dominant key forward since Barry Hall retired at the end of 2011.

They moved to address that need in last year's trade period by acquiring Cloke, who kicked 441 goals in 246 games with the Magpies and, at his best, was one of the elite contested marks in the competition.

However, Boyd told RSN927 on Tuesday the reigning premiers would not tinker with their game-plan because they now had Cloke in their forward line.

"I think he'll just complement the way we play. We're not going to change how we play because Trav has come into the side," Boyd said.

"He'll just definitely complement how we play. We saw what Tom Boyd was able to do towards the backend of last year as a key forward/ruckman."

Boyd said Cloke, 30, had fitted in "beautifully" at the Whitten Oval over the pre-season, both as a player and teammate.

But the veteran stressed the Bulldogs would not place unrealistic expectations on the two-time All Australian as he embarked on a new phase of his career.

"It's the same with the expectation of all the teammates in the side: try and help your teammates be better players, try and help your team be the best team it can be," Boyd said.

"If that's one week Trav kicking five goals then so be it, but if another week he doesn't kick any (goals) but he has a really strong lead-up game and he draws out defenders and he brings his teammates into the game through handball or using his feet, then that's what it is.

"There's no set limits on what we want Trav to do."

Cloke is set to make his debut for the Bulldogs against his former team at the MCG on Friday night.

Boyd was confident his new teammate would not be overawed by the occasion.

"I think it's pretty important to just let guys deal with it how they want to deal with it," Boyd said.

"He's obviously going to be thinking about it a fair bit, but I think it's great that's round one and it's over and done with in the first week of his new season at his new club.

"He'll deal with it in his own way and if he needs some help with it he's got 44 blokes around him who will help him."