WESTERN Bulldogs have declared they will be an active player in this year’s trade period, with president Peter Gordon warning rivals to “look out for us in the off-season”.

Gordon said the club was “proud” of its big-money deal for Tom Boyd and was adamant his $1 million-a-year salary had not impacted the club’s list build.

The Dogs are chasing banned Bomber Michael Hurley and has also shown interest in injury-hit Cat Nathan Vardy as it searches for another key position player.

Gordon indicated the Dogs had the salary cap space to land a big fish.

“The acquisition of Tom Boyd hasn’t cost us a single player,” Gordon said on ABC Radio.

“And it hasn’t interfered with our capacity to be competitive at the end of this season in the draft and I will rely upon our list manager (Jason McCartney) and recruiting people to do it.

“But look out for us in the off-season.”

In Wednesday’s Herald Sun, Geelong great Cameron Mooney encouraged Boyd to take a pay cut to help ease the searing pressure on the third-year key forward to perform, saying “I do feel sorry for him”.

Bulldogs great Luke Darcy also said a pay cut was worth considering “If you sat him (Boyd) down and said ‘this is going to help the side’.”

But Gordon said the suggestion was “offensive” and was adamant the 200cm Boyd ignored the focus on his mega contract.

“He is not being told to take a pay cut,” Gordon said.

“Thankfully Tom doesn’t read that sort of thing and we don’t either. Truthfully, I think people should just leave it (his pay packet) alone.

media_camera The Bulldogs say Tom Boyd won’t be taking a pay cut. Picture: Getty Images

“We did a deal with Tom that we were pleased to do and proud to do, and, we were able to fit it into our salary cap because we hadn’t paid up to our full salary cap for years and year and years.

“The AFL introduced a banking mechanism system which meant that that, provided we could raise the cash, we actually had an advantage that the Collingwoods and Carltons didn’t have, because we had that bankable ability there.

“So we set about working hard to raise the cash to provide an opportunity.

“It’s provided an opportunity to get Tom and it’s also provided an opportunity to re-sign most of the other young stars of the competition that everyone is very excited about.”

AFL chief executive Gil McLachlan today threw support behind Boyd and the Bulldogs, despite labelling Sydney’s massive deal for Lance Franklin “an extraordinary risk” three years ago.

Franklin signed a 10-year $9 million contract to join the Swans at the end of 2013.

But the AFL boss said he was sure Boyd had a bright future at the kennel, labelling the goalkicker “a great talent”.

“List management decisions of clubs and contracts are a really important part of their decision-making. I don’t want to talk to specific deals,” McLachlan said.

“I saw Rob Murphy talking about it the other night that Tom feels pressure because of that.

“But he’s got a very supportive club. He’s a great talent and I’m sure he’ll make it as a great player in our game.”