With skipper Brad Johnson and Nathan Eagleton both retiring, and Jason Akermanis' early-season exit, the Bulldogs have lost experience, pace and firepower.
Football manager James Fantasia says his club may go hunting for all three when the AFL's official player exchange period kicks off on Tuesday.
"We definitely want to bring some pace into the side," Fantasia told afl.com.au on Thursday.
"I guess we also want to bring in a little bit of experience as well because we'll go to the draft and we know we'll have three or four picks and they'll be young players.
"Speed [and] I suppose we wouldn't mind a small forward. That's another position I guess we'd like to cover off."
Speaking from the NAB AFL Draft Combine, Fantasia said the Dogs hoped to be active when clubs started getting deals done next week.
They have been linked to a number of smaller, speedy types, including Brisbane Lion Justin Sherman.
"He's a good player and we've certainly spoken to him and his manager and we're going to speak to, Brisbane, but that's early days as well," Fantasia said.
"But we've made an indication that he's the type of player that we'd love to bring into our footy club."
Fantasia said the same for Carlton's Andrew Walker, although the contracted Blue is of interest to several clubs.
"It's always a very unknown week," Fantasia said. "What I'd love to see is a few deals get done early.
"I think it will be a pretty big week, next week."
As for Bulldogs potentially moving, Josh Hill, Andrejs Everitt and Brennan Stack have all been among those mentioned. Although Fantasia said his club had fielded inquiries about more than a few of Rodney Eade's men.
"You know we've certainly had some queries about a number of our players and that certainly gives you food for thought," he said.
"Mostly what happens is ... you have a look at each list and those guys that you rate that are probably on the cusp, on the fringe there, they're the ones that tend to get asked a lot about.
"We've had a number of players that have been in and out of the side this year and they've certainly generated interest."
Follow our complete coverage of the 2010 AFL exchange period from October 5-11. No trades are official until paperwork has been accepted by the AFL and formally recognised after 2pm on Monday, October 11.
Join the AFL trade conversation on Twitter: use #tradeweek in your tweets.
