ENFORCED rest is not something that Western Bulldogs defender Dale Morris enjoys.

The former rookie is a renowned hard trainer and loves pushing his body to the limit.

This year however, the 26-year-old simply had to take a break when the club's season came to an end after secretly playing the final six games with a fractured tibia.

It was an injury that didn't require surgery or plaster or extensive treatment. It just had to be rested, which was something Morris admitted he was not good at.

"The leg is fine. It just needed some time off and you can't really take time off during the year for something like that," Morris said on the second day of the Dogs' pre-season on Tuesday.

"That's another reason why I had to spend a few weeks off doing nothing, which was pretty hard.

"Even when we had the eight weeks off, we were told to have two or three weeks of doing nothing at all and I found that to be extremely difficult.

"We're used to training every day. We're used to running and kicking the balls around, and to do nothing was a shock to the system.

"I couldn't wait to get out there and start running again and start lifting some weights and having a kick, and just getting the body back moving."

Morris says his leg is "all good now and ready to go", and he is embarking on a full training load with his teammates at Whitten Oval.

While some might find pre-season training monotonous and strenuous, the 2008 All-Australian is ready to embrace every challenge thrown down by the club's fitness staff.

"Pre-season is hard but it's good because we're here to train, we're here to get fit, and it's our job," he said.

"If you don't like it, you can go and get a job somewhere else.

"All the guys in there would enjoy pre-season to some extent."

Despite his age and experience Morris has already begun pre-season training, joining 
the club's one- to seven-year players.

"You need this space to really set yourself up for the year ahead," he said.

"We all know that and we know it's going to be painful and tough. Every club is going through it so it's not like we're doing something different."

Morris said it was pleasing to return to the club with the knowledge this year's list was largely intact owing to the recent re-signing of Nathan Eagleton, Jason Akermanis, Brad Johnson and Brian Lake.

While he didn't confirm the rumour that some senior players had taken pay cuts to help retain Eagleton and Akermanis, Morris said the playing group had been desperate to keep them.

"As a team, we would do anything to keep the team together from last year," he said.

"We are that close. 'Eages' and 'Aker' are main players in our team.

"You look at what they've done during the year - Eages played every game and Aker nearly did; he missed a couple with injury.

"They're two classy players and even if they pinch hit off the bench, they're players you want in your team.

"We would do anything, and whether the whole list or a few people take pay cuts, I have no doubt the players would do it straight away."