Turvey Park have signed Lachlan Warren for next season

Bulldogs coach Cal Dooley was excited to welcome the 21-year-old onboard for their premiership defence in 2024.

"We've picked up Lachy Warren from Williamstown CYMS in the VAFA Premier B comp," Dooley said.

"Lachy will be travelling up from Melbourne every week and we are looking forward to having him don the Turvey Park jumper next year."

Warren is rated as one of the young guns of the VAFA and Dooley believed his addition would help fill the void left by the departing Luke Fellows.

"He's a quick athletic young midfielder," he said.

"He's going to bring us a lot of dash and a lot of pace.

"He loves to take the game on and he doesn't take a back step, he loves to get it out and also get it on the outside and use it well.

"I think losing Luke this off-season we've lost a bit of class on the outside, Luke's obviously a very good inside footballer as well but he brought us a lot of run and class on the outside.

"Bringing Lachy in will hopefully cover what we've lost there with Luke and he can provide us with a lot of run and carry through the midfield."

Having played VAFA himself in the past, Dooley said it was a family member who first brought his attention to Warren.

"I've actually got my old man to thank for this one," he said.

"My dad likes to keep an eye on the old VAFA and there was an article posted about the young up and coming footballers and Lachy Warren was in that.

'We actually know Lachy's dad, he's a family friend of my old man so he got onto me and I reached out to Lachy and said hey mate have you got any thoughts about coming to play a bit of country footy?

"Then he said yeah I'm looking for a bit of a change and it sort of just went from there."

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Warren is the second recruit the Bulldogs have signed ahead of next season and Dooley said it was good to get him locked away relatively early in the off-season.

"Besides from bringing back Chase (Grintell), it's our first off-season move so it's nice to get that one away and get the ball rolling in that aspect," he said.

"We are super excited about the type of person he is, he's a high quality bloke and we know that he's not only going to give us stuff on-field but he'll bring some nice culture to the group off the field as well.

"The club is very excited to have him onboard and have him settle in."

Dooley has made the regular commute from Melbourne over the past two seasons and believed that Warren wouldn't find too many issues with the trip down to Wagga each week.

"He'll be alright," he said.

"He sort of asked me during the interview process how I found it last year and I told him that I got the train up on the Friday and then I'd get the train back on a Sunday.

"Yes it does take up your weekend, but it's very easy because when you catch the train you can zone out and get some sleep in or whatnot so it's better than driving.

"He said that sounds pretty good to me so I think he'll be fine doing that."

Having now secured Warren and Grintell for next season, Dooley was hopeful that the Bulldogs would be able to attract another recruit or two over the coming weeks.

"As every club is we are talking to a few blokes at the moment," he said.

"We are just waiting to hear back and hopefully we can get them over the line or get answers from them in the coming weeks.

"Pre-season starts in two months so you want to start suring up a few things before you go into that so you are not scrambling right before pre-season."

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