WESTERN Bulldogs key defender Alex Keath has had a lighter start to his week as the important backman looks to prove his fitness ahead of Saturday's Toyota AFL Grand Final clash with Melbourne.
The Dogs, who exited their tight quarantine on Sunday, trained at Mineral Resources Park on Monday morning.
Keath was on light duties, however, across the session with some warm-up drills and skills work to the side of the main group after missing last week's preliminary final win over Port Adelaide with a hamstring injury.
The former Crow was joined in the modified group by Bulldogs teammates Tom Liberatore, Bailey Smith, Caleb Daniel and Taylor Duryea, while Bailey Williams did not partake in training.
But the club is confident with the health of its squad ahead of the Saturday night flag decider at Optus Stadium, as two tough selection calls loom with Keath and Cody Weightman (concussion) set to return.
Daniel said earlier on Monday that Keath had done extra running work over the weekend to ensure his preparation was strong for what shapes as a crucial role against Melbourne's trio of key forwards.
"He's training pretty well. He had an extended session on Saturday to get a few more runs in the legs and now he'll be training with the main group as far as I know," Daniel said.
"He's tracking really well and hopefully he's available. I think he will be."
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Laitham Vandermeer, who was substituted out of the win over the Power with hamstring soreness, took part in the main drills at the Dogs' session and looks available for selection.
A hard-luck selection call faces the Bulldogs with Keath expected to be ready for the game. One of defensive pair Ryan Gardner or Zaine Cordy looms as the potential omission despite both putting in solid performances in the Dogs' preliminary final win over Port Adelaide.
Daniel is one of nine Bulldogs who played in the preliminary final that were members of the club's historic 2016 Grand Final win over Sydney. He said there was a different dynamic to the Dogs five years on as the club shoots for its third premiership in its history.
"We're still pretty young and we were really young in 2016. There's only 10 or so players who played in that game who are still here so it's a completely different team, completely different personalities within the team so we're trying to write a new story, write our own story as this group," he said.
"Everyone has bought in, everyone is playing really good footy, everyone is training well and the energy is really high and that's all you can ask for especially coming into the biggest week of the year.