The Bulldogs kicked off their recruitment campaign with the return of Cunningham after five seasons at Marrar.

The 27-year-old returns with two Farrer League premierships and the experience to become one of the leaders in Turvey Park's playing group.

Cunningham is looking forward to being back at the Bulldogs.

"The time was right," Cunningham said.

"I just wanted to go back and finish my career at Turvey Park, where it all started."

Turvey Park showed plenty of promise this year, winning seven games to finish in sixth position, just two games out of finals.

The most exciting part for the Bulldogs was some of the young talent coming through and Cunningham is looking forward to helping the next generation.

"There is a lot of good young fellas with plenty of talent there," he said.

"They said they just need a couple of older fellas with some experience and there's where I come into it.

"I can't wait. My first training run is this week and I'm looking forward to it."

Cunningham made a home at Marrar as a small forward, kicking 78 goals from 80 games at the Bombers, while also spending time in the midfield.

He also established himself as a big game player and was in the Bombers' best in both grand final wins in 2017 and 2018.

Cunningham expects to play a similar role at Turvey Park.

"I think I'll be in the forward line, the same as Marrar, and on-ball a bit," he said.

"Hopefully I can add a bit of leadership."

Cunningham enjoyed his time at Langtry Oval and said it was a difficult decision to leave after five years.

"Yeah it was. It was hard to leave all the boys," he said.

"The experience I had at Marrar was unbelievable and became mates with some really good fellas so it was hard leaving but I wanted to finish my footy there at Turvey."

Cunningham, who will be 28 by next season, hopes he still has a few years of good football left at the Bulldogs.

He attracted interest from some other clubs but only ever seriously considered heading back to Maher Oval.

Turvey Park co-coach Mark Carroll believes Cunningham is the 'perfect fit' for his young squad.

"It's fantastic, he's just what we were after," Carroll said.

"He's played in those couple of premierships at Marrar and it will be great to have his experience back at the club with our young group."

The Bulldogs have lost full-forward Clint Shields, however, with he and his family moving back to Victoria after three seasons at the club.

He also spent time at Lockhart and Charles Sturt University before that.

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