WESTERN Bulldogs president Peter Gordon says his hands-on approach helps ensure his club does not get pushed around anymore.

In an interview with News Corp, Gordon said his role in helping bring Tom Boyd – the first player drafted in 2013 – to the club began at a meeting in June, 2014. While he acknowledges he played a large role in finalising the deal, he said he followed up on work from the Dogs' football department and financial experts.

"Our club's management asked me to come in an join the meeting – which was an unusual thing to do – in order to give an indication to Tom and to (his manager) Liam Pickering of how serious our interest was," Gordon said.

The Dogs traded their captain Ryan Griffen and No.6 in the 2014 NAB AFL Draft to GWS to acquire Boyd, after Griffen had walked out on the club.

That tumultuous period also saw Brendan McCartney leave his position as coach.

"I did understand, as we all did, that it was a risk to go after a young player who was unproven," Gordon said.

"But it was a football decision, and a decision about investment in a young player for the next 10 years.

"It just happened to also make a dramatic statement that we weren't going to get bent over anymore, and that the days of the Bulldogs shrinking from a calculated risk, or from a big deal, were over."

He believes the Dogs must use the resources available to them if they are to be in the premiership race, hence his willingness to be involved in matters typically left to others.

"You can either accept the status quo in that we are always going to make less money and be a smaller player and be accused of irrelevancy, or actually strike out on a course to try and win the flag … despite the structural inequalities that we face," he said.

"We have chosen, and I have chosen, to pursue that course aggressively. One of the lateral ways that we can do that is to deploy the resources of not just the president, but of the board."

His relationship with former chief executive David Stevenson, who parted ways with the Dogs after spending little more than a year in the role, caused much public discussion at the time.

"In the course of working intensely with people, you'll always have your good moments and your differences," Gordon said.