Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon vows to pay full salary cap Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon at a family day early this year. WESTERN Bulldogs president Peter Gordon has guaranteed his football department the club will pay 100 per cent of the salary cap from next season. Gordon yesterday backed coach Brendan McCartney to the hilt and urged Dogs supporters to be patient despite a run of 19 games with just one victory. He said AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou had met key Bulldogs staffers at Whitten Oval last week and made it clear how crucial they were to the league. But the Bulldogs continue to be out-spent in crucial areas such as salary cap expenditure. According to 2011 figures, the Dogs outlaid $14.7 million on their football department, compared to Collingwood's $19.1 million. Yesterday Gordon pledged the Dogs would lift spending from this year's 95 per cent of the salary cap to 100 per cent next year. "I feel good that we can confidently plan over the next five to 10 years that we can pay the full salary cap and provide a well-resourced football department," he said. We are not at 100 per cent this year and our contracts are locked in, but we are adopting a policy from 2014 that we will not erode the real cost of our football department. We are building our football department and need the ability to attract players and be in the market for the best coaches and assistant coaches, and on that basis we will pay the full salary cap. Players need to know that not just next year but for the entirety of their careers they will be at a club which is paying the same wages and same salary cap and has the same support services as every other club. Gordon said the Bulldogs were determined not to hide the truth from their supporters and the rebuild would take time. But he could not have been stronger in his support of second-year coach McCartney. "We would love success sooner rather than later," Gordon said. But we won't sugar-coat it for our fans and they wouldn't expect otherwise. We are operating in the most competitive of environments with 17 teams as desperate as we are, and who are equally, if not better, resourced, and it will take time.