In his third season with the Bulldogs, the 31-year-old has never looked fitter and is tackling the second chance he has been given at AFL level full on.

Goodes is well aware how quickly an AFL career can come to an end.

A VFL premiership player with the North Ballarat Roosters and Footscray, Goodes' time in the big time appeared over at the end of last season after being delisted by the Bulldogs.

He had played 15 AFL games in two years with the club after being a mature age recruit.

With his future uncertain, Goodes turned his attention to renovating his Ballarat house and keeping fit by running around Victoria Park.

There was no shortage of football offers outside the AFL and accepting one seemed the most likely path he would take next with his football.

Then just a few weeks before pre-season, Western Bulldogs list manager Jason McCartney called him.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Goodes was redrafted by the Bulldogs as a rookie.

While becoming a rookie means a pay cut after being on the senior list, for Goodes there was no hesitation in taking up the offer to extend his time with the Bulldogs.

It's about much more than money.

Goodes is enjoying every moment of his third year at Whitten Oval.

"It's lot more fun," he said back in Ballarat on Wednesday for the first day of a two-day Western Bulldogs community camp.

He said it was a whole new structure under new coach Luke Beveridge.

As a rookie, all Goodes can do is throw everything he has into training and hope he gets a call up to the senior list if a vacancy arises as a result of injury.

"You never know."

The Bulldogs have already suffered a couple of injury blows.

Tom Liberatore is out of for the season with a knee reconstruction and Zaine Cordy has undergone a shoulder reconstruction.

While football is foremost on his mind right now, Goodes is mindful of the importance of preparing for a career when his professional career does come to an end.

Goodes, who first joined the Bulldogs as player welfare officer, is undergoing business studies with a view to working in a welfare field which assists children or the disadvantaged.

The community camp is the Western Bulldogs' first in Ballarat since striking a partnership with the City of Ballarat late last year with a view to extending its supporter and business base from the western suburbs into Western Victoria, and in the long-term playing home and away matches at Eureka Stadium.

The Bulldogs will take the next step in the alignment when it plays Melbourne in a NAB Challenge match at Eureka Stadium on Saturday, March 14.

The Bulldogs' program in Ballarat on Wednesday featured a civic reception, school clinics, a master class for coaches in association with the North Ballarat Rebels, and training with BFL and CHFL clubs, and Ballarat youth girls football squad.

Thursday's activities will begin with an open training sessions at Eureka Stadium from 9.30am and be followed by visits to various community organisations and institutions.

MORE COMMUNITY CAMP NEWS AND PHOTOS, Page 45