Sam Lloyd is loving footy again, the veteran forward's switch from Richmond to the Western Bulldogs proving to be just the tonic he needed to revive his AFL career.
With 57 games in five seasons, Lloyd was largely unable to establish himself as an AFL regular with the Tigers - he wasn't even an emergency for the 2017 premiership team - which ultimately led him to make the tough decision to leave.
The 29-year-old has played every game for his new team, hitting the scoreboard in all but one, for a return of 10 goals.
He admitted to mixed feelings playing against his old club last week, but was delighted and relieved after the Dogs prevailed by 47 points at Marvel Stadium.
"I'm actually watching football again ... I'm really enjoying it," Lloyd told AAP.
"We've got a really young group of boys at the Bulldogs and they're helping me feel young as well.
"From a football point of view, I'm definitely feeling rejuvenated and loving my time at the club.
"I'm probably going the same way as the team a bit in that I've had a couple of performances I'd like to forget and a couple I've been really happy with.
"Besides my goal kicking last week, I felt like I was getting back to my best football."
The win over the Tigers ended a run of four losses that threatened to derail the Bulldogs' season.
But Luke Beveridge's men know they must back up that effort when they host Brisbane in Ballarat on Saturday.
"They've been playing some really good football to be in the top four," Lloyd said of the Lions.
"Our preparation has been about playing at or near the level we played at against Richmond.
"We were happy with the way we went about it defensively and offensively.
"Obviously it wasn't great when we were losing but there was always a belief that we weren't far away.
"The challenge for a young is always to back up and go again with that 100 per cent effort."
The Dogs made one change for the clash, regaining Matt Suckling from injury at the expense of Tory Dickson, while Brisbane added Harris Andrews and Zac Bailey.
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