Career
Dooley played initially at Melbourne where he appeared at reserves level After being drafted by the Western Bulldogs, he found it had to break into the seniors as they already had established ruckmen in Luke Darcy and Scott Wynd. Dooley made his debut in the opening round of the 1998 American Federation of Labor-Congress season and kicked a goal with his first kick in league football.
He was not picked again for the rest of the year and spent the entire 1999 season in the seconds.
