Training duties appeared to be very light on, following their preseason match against Melbourne on Saturday.

Among the stars at Eureka Stadium were beloved captain Bob Murphy, Jason Johannisen, Luke Dahlhaus, Tom Liberatore, Travis Cloke, Caleb Daniel, Lin Jong and Tom Boyd.

The Bulldogs are in town for two days and will be making a number of community visits throughout the days.

Half of the squad is in Horsham attending similar sessions.

OFFICIALLY, Western Bulldogs have opened their Mair Street kennel so everyone in Ballarat can learn exactly what the club is all about.

And it is more than football.

Western Bulldogs chief executive officer Gary Kent said this was a big year for the club, building on an AFL premiership and bringing their game to Eureka Stadium, but the club was also out to make a real difference.

The Mair Street base offers a chance for people to come in off the street and discover the club’s evolving and growing community development programs, including a youth leadership project and Sons of the West men’s health initiative. Soon there will be a Daughters of the West for women’s health and multicultural and indigenous programs.

Club merchandise and memberships can be ordered to the headquarters. Out the back is an open community space, open for business and group forums.

“We’re serious about the community,” Mr Kent said. “We’re already running a number of programs here, but the more people who know about them, the more we can make a change...We want to make an impact on the communities we’re involved in, to help.”

The Bulldogs are extending their western front deeper into western Victoria this summer, including a simultaneous community camp in Horsham. Bulldogs football director Chris Grant was in Hamilton last week, working to engage promising young footballers as part of the club’s next-gen academy.

Meanwhile, there was a collective gasp when Bulldogs midfielder Lin Jong declared his favourite books when he was at school were thriller series Goosebumps.

His fearless off-field focus now is in encouraging Ballarat youngsters to get reading. The Bulldogs midfielder, with teammates Tom Boyd and Jack Macrae, launched this year’s Bulldogs Read program at the Ballarat Library on Monday.

Jong was involved in the program last year, and told this latest intake of pupils he enjoyed Skyping into their classes and reading their book reviews.

”That was really fun, really engaging and just to catch up with you guys and see what you are reading,” Jong said. “As a kid I probably didn’t enjoy reading as much as I do now but in hindsight, I really do like reading now and the best thing about it that there are so many genres and every book is different, not everyone likes reading the same book you can actually have your own taste and choice.”

Wendouree primary grade four Eliza likes reading funny books and said the program helped improve her reading and writing in class.

“I like going to see authors and going places like Sovereign Hill (with the program),” Eliza said. “I Like reading. My favourite books are Freak Street. They’re not scary.”

City of Ballarat children and youth librarian Julie Bull, who coordinates the program, said children were in for a mind-blowing experience. Ms Bull said pupils, like Eliza, improved out of bounds and, importantly, the program encouraged their parents and families to get involved.

Almost 80 students across seven Ballarat schools are signed up this year: Wendouree, St Francis Xavier, St Columbas, Phoenix, St Patrick’s Gordon, Delacombe and Canadian Lead. 

Participants receive a Dahlhaus Club bag, cap, lanyard and Paul Jennings’ latest book The Unforgettable What’s His Name. 

Jason Johannisen thinks as nimbly as he plays football.

When the 2016 Norm Smith medallist was asked how he celebrated the Western Bulldogs historic premiership win, he told Lumen Christi Primary School grade sixers he “went home and watched the Harry Potter series”.

Johannisen and teammate Shane Biggs did a clinic at the Delacombe school before posing for photos and signing autographs – even on iPad cases.

They also did a question and answer session where their other sticky question was how many girlfriends they had had.

Johannisen said they had a 15 minute chat with the students about leadership and resilience – “it was about never giving up”.

He also said he loved visiting schools because he remembers how excited he was as a school kid in Perth when Fremantle players came to visit.

“It was just a ‘wow’ experience when people you see playing footy on TV come to your school,” Johannisen said.

“One kids came up to me today and said he was going to start playing footy so you can see how you can be a role model and have a good effect on them.”

And Caleb Daniel and Fletcher Roberts both said they would be travelling overseas with their mates if they weren’t playing AFL football. 

The pair were at Damascus College encouraging year 10s to continue reading at an age when most males are giving away books.  

Roberts said he used books as an escape when he was copping flak last year when he was down on form and both said they used studying in their spare time as a release from the pressure of AFL football.

“If you have a full day of training it can be hard to go home and do one to two hours of study but it’s about putting in the yards and being rewarded for it,” Roberts said.

Damascus College head of library Loretta Kaval said research had shown that male role models could be important in helping young boys to continue reading, which they often stop at the year nine and 10 stage.

She also said they wanted to move away from an author this year and show the students a different aspect of reading.

“We wanted to show them it’s not about sitting quietly for 45 minutes but it’s about learning about the world through books,” Ms Kaval said.