Last year the Dogs dropped their rounds two and three matches after beating Geelong in the opening week, with Rodney Eade publicly criticising his players for "believing their own publicity" following the early win over the eventual premiers.
This year, however, the Bulldogs have won two from two – the second of which a massive 95-point win over Melbourne – which is reason enough for Cameron to believe the players are a different bunch mentally 12 months on.
"In round two last year Adelaide caught us napping after a really good win against Geelong," he said on Tuesday.
"You can only do what we did against Melbourne on the weekend, and our attitude was fantastic for the whole game.
"Probably in the past we might not have buried a side, but obviously Melbourne is struggling at this point in time, but in the past, the Bulldogs might have only won by five goals.
"We're really happy with how our lads are tracking, and as I said before, they're really looking forward to having a crack at the Saints."
The challenge for the Dogs continues this Friday night, with an appointment with a side that has troubled them in the past.
"To get off to two wins is obviously a good start, but St Kilda, counting their NAB Cup, they've won six in a row, so it's a great test for us," Cameron said.
"We've watched them the last couple of weeks. The Sydney game was an interesting game, an intriguing match of defences, and they ended up lucky to get away with the win.
"I don't think they're far off their best. They're a very good side, we've struggled with them in the past, and I know we had that draw last year with them, but in the previous couple of years they've given us some good beltings.
"We're up and running, we've had a good pre-season, and we're looking forward to taking them on this Friday night."
Cameron said the Saints' tall attacking timber was expected to force some Bulldogs to play slightly unconventional roles, given the continuing absence of defenders Tom Williams and Andrejs Everitt.
"Three big monsters in [Justin] Koschitzke, [Nick] Riewoldt and [Fraser] Gehrig are obviously hard to stop," he said.
"We've got [Brian] Harris and Cam Wight, so no doubt we're going to have to call in another tall in [Andrew] McDougall maybe, or look to a [Ryan] Hargrave or a [Dale] Morris to play above their height.
"It's always a concern playing their talls, but again, hopefully our midfield can get on top and prevent them from going in there with ease."
Cameron also said a win over the pre-season premiers would come as a considerable confidence booster for his players, who are looking to atone for a pair of dismal Friday night performances towards the end of last year.
"Last year when we had that horror run, we played a couple of night matches and it really wasn't great for us," he said.
"We played the Eagles and the Cats and got beaten by 80 points both times.
"With Friday night football you always want to be performing in front of everyone; everyone watches Friday night footy so we're really looking forward to that.
"For it to come this early in the season, and against such a good opposition who I expect to be in the top four, is great."
Nathan Eagleton is considered a "massive chance" to play this week, after overcoming the ankle injury that forced him out of Saturday's game at the last moment.
