HATING defeat was one of the traits American swim legend Mark Spitz emphasised when he met the club's leadership group on Tuesday afternoon.

Spitz, in Melbourne for the world swimming championships, met the players to offer motivational tips on how to succeed in the ultra-competitive world of professional sport.

Despite the obvious differences between the sporting arena that made Spitz famous and the one the Dogs play on each week, the champion swimmer still found many familiarities.

"There's a commonality between a lot of athletes. We all have the same anxieties, we all the same interests, we all have the same desires and we all have the same motivation," Spitz said after the Dogs presented him with a club guernsey at Telstra Dome.

"We loathe the idea of not being successful and I think that drives people to success. The ones that fall by the wayside obviously fall by the wayside earlier in their careers and what you see left is the cream of the crop.

"So we communicate at that level."

Spitz is an AFL fan and follows the competition on cable TV in America. He believes it is "the way American football should be played – without helmets".

He shared his own experiences with the players and how he overcame dwindling desire to forge a career that culminated with nine Olympic gold medals – seven of which were won at the 1972 Munich Games.

"I talked to them about the pathways to how I became successful. I think there's a thread of why they are successful, too," he said.

"I gave them examples of some of the things that occurred to me during my career that could have made me turn the other way and basically walk away from the sport.

"I stepped up to the challenge and worked through the hard times."

Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson said it was a privilege to meet the man who still holds the record for the most gold medals won in a single Olympic Games.

"It was fantastic to meet him. It was a great experience and one that we all really enjoyed," Johnson said.

"It was interesting just to hear his stories on how he went in 1968 at Mexico, and how he learned from that and became the legend that he is in 1972 at Munich.

"It was great the way he told the story of how he focused and got himself to produce in 1972 and I suppose we can take a little bit away from that in how we focus.

"We need to do it every week for 22 weeks this season. We can definitely take a little bit out of it."

Johnson said he "gained an appreciation of how hard swimmers have to work" from Spitz's talk and hopes the club's leadership group is able to put into practice the tips he had to offer.

"The main message was about focus and that's something we're looking at as a leader," he said.

"The leadership group can now use a bit of that and our own initiatives to lead the rest of the group and empower them to try a few different things that might help them with their footy."