“I haven’t got many fingernails left, I’ll tell you that much. When it was going into the wee hours of last night I was starting to get a little bit stressed. “I called ‘Bevo’ yesterday morning and he was up in Noosa and he calmed the anxiety a little bit, he said, ‘Mate, we’ll get it done, no worries’. So I had full faith in the recruiting team.” But Bruce wasn’t too enamoured with the AFL’s attempt to coincide the remaining trades of the period with prime time TV by prohibiting any deals taking place before late into the afternoon on the final day. “It is stressful. I’m not sure whether the AFL is trying to create that kind of atmosphere where it all happens late, creates a really exciting [spectacle] for people watching and fans but when you’re on the other side of the fence, it’s not that exciting,” he laughed. It’s been a big 14-month period for Bruce in which his partner has given birth to their daughter Poppy, he has earned a new four-year contract with the Bulldogs, he has sold his house recently “for a good result” and he’s also about to get married.

“It’s all coming up trumps,” he said. Bruce said it felt surreal wearing the Bulldogs colours after six years at the Saints and agreed his move represented a sound business decision more than anything else as St Kilda weren’t willing to offer him the length of contract he was after. New Bulldog Josh Bruce is keen to make this his last club move. Credit:Getty Images “I absolutely loved my time at the Saints, there’s definitely no bad blood there at all,” he said. “It’s just one of those things, it’s football and players and clubs go separate ways ... I couldn’t be happier and I’m absolutely ecstatic to be here.

“I feel like I’m just hitting my prime. To get that security is really important for me and my family. “They [St Kilda] potentially see their list heading in a different direction. They’ve got some young guys coming through [like] Max King and they were obviously being really aggressive in the trade period so they just potentially weren’t in a position to offer me a long-term deal which is what I was looking for at this stage of my career.” The Bulldogs expressed their interest in Bruce a couple of months ago and the one-time St Kilda leading goalkicker said playing finals for the first time in his career after eight years and 113 games also played its part in his decision. “It’s a very young list and a very young forward line and they’re obviously going places quickly and you saw that in the back end of last year, playing finals,” he said. “Two or three years ago when they won a flag I was obviously very envious and to be consistently a strong side and to play finals this year it’s something I’m desperate to be a part of.