THE WESTERN Bulldogs are confident vice-captain Jordan Roughead will re-commit to the club as they look to shore up their future.
The 24-year-old is one of 16 Bulldogs players to come out of contract at the end of the season.
The Bulldogs confirmed to AFL.com.au the club had begun discussions with Roughead and his management, with coach Luke Beveridge confident the key defender would sign a new deal to stay at the Whitten Oval.
"Yes, I am [confident Roughead will re-sign]," Beveridge told AFL.com.au.
"Jordan's talking to our list managers and talking through the subtleties with his management. Obviously my preference would be [for him to sign] earlier rather than later. He's a really important part of our make-up, Roughie.
"He soldiered on last year with a shoulder that kept falling out and showed enormous courage and character. That's one of the reasons he was voted in as vice-captain. He's a great leader and it's really important that he stays at the club."
Along with Roughead, midfielders Mitch Wallis and Luke Dahlhaus will also be out of contract at seasons end, while Jarrad Grant, Easton Wood, Matthew Boyd, Dale Morris and skipper Bob Murphy will all be free agents.
Beveridge said the high number of players that potentially required re-signing would not be a distraction for the club during the season.
"We can manage that but we want our boys to sign up and commit to us for the future because we think we're building something," he said.
"The only concern will be is if we can't convince our players to sign on the dotted line. We're working through that but it's imperative that we keep the group together as much as possible because we're building something so we need to manage that the right way."
For now, Roughead's signature is key for the Bulldogs.
Not only is he a potential future captain, but he is also a vital cog in the side's back six with Dale Morris, 32, nearing the end of his career.
Despite shoulder issues restricting Roughead to just 15 games in 2014, he averaged the fifth-most spoils of any player in the competition.
However when it came to nullifying his direct opponent, Roughead struggled, recording the fourth-worst losing percentage of the top 20 players involved in defensive one-on-ones.
With Morris set to play a different role in 2015, Roughead needs more help.
"I'm not keen for Dale to play on the big key forwards so we need to find more than just Jordan Roughead as a key defender," Beveridge said.
"We've got some options there in Fletcher Roberts, Michael Talia and Joel Hamling. We just recruited Zaine Cordy but he's a while away. We need someone else to step up and there's one, maybe two spots there, and we need to fill that void that hasn't been filled.
"That will allow Dale to play a little bit higher and play on some different types and we can really capitalise on his leadership and scope to organise and help us implement these new approaches."
Beveridge has flagged several more changes to the Bulldogs' defence, introducing a new methodology in the back end.
The Bulldogs will also focus on implementing a whole-team defence to try and stop the onslaught from opposition teams, with the Dogs conceding the fourth-most points in the league last season.
