The Western Bulldogs’ stunning resurgence was the feel-good story of this year’s AFL season.
Appointed head coach last November, Luke Beveridge inherited a huge mess following one of the most tumultuous off-seasons in the club’s recent history.
His predecessor, Brendan McCartney, resigned a day after captain Ryan Griffen dropped a bombshell by requesting a trade to the Greater Western Sydney Giants, to be reunited with coach Leon Cameron, as well as former teammates Callan Ward and Dylan Addison.
Their departures came in the aftermath of a fourth straight season without finals football, and a third consecutive bottom-five finish. They had lost their final game of the season to the Giants, in which Jake Stringer dropped an uncontested mark in the final 30 seconds, resulting in Devon Smith kicking the match-winning major for GWS.
It was the final game for club veterans Daniel Giansiracusa, who remains at the club as an assistant coach, Shaun Higgins, who exercised his free agency rights to join North Melbourne, and Adam Cooney, who was traded to Essendon.
In short, the club lost over 800 games of experience during the off-season.
Three months after Griffen and McCartney’s departures, CEO Simon Garlick announced his resignation, and if that wasn’t enough, they then lost their reigning best and fairest, Tom Liberatore, to a knee injury that sidelined him for the entire season.
Taking all factors into account, many tipped the Western Bulldogs for this year’s wooden spoon.
The 2015 season started with a 10-point win over the West Coast Eagles at Etihad Stadium. Like the Bulldogs, not much was expected from the Eagles this season, given they had finished ninth in 2014.
The Round 1 win was followed by a 19-point win over Richmond at the MCG, marking the first time since 2009 that the Bulldogs had started a season with two straight wins. A 70-point loss to Hawthorn in Launceston followed, bringing the club back down to earth.
The Anzac Day Round had the Dogs facing the top-of-the-table, undefeated Adelaide Crows at Etihad Stadium.
In one of their best performances, the Bulldogs recorded a 57-point win, with third-year player Jake Stringer kicking six goals before he was subbed off in the third quarter with a hamstring injury.
It left opposition coach Phil Walsh embarrassed, and he famously made the Crows “jump off a jetty” after they lost the key statistic of ground ball gets for a third consecutive match.
Six days later, the Bullies arrived at the SCG as massive underdogs against last year’s beaten grand finalists, the Sydney Swans.
They had been 92-point losers on their previous visit to this venue in 2012, however Beveridge’s men outlasted the Swans in wet conditions to clinch a famous four-point victory.
Captain Robert Murphy described it as one of the best wins of his career, and had other teams marking the Bulldogs as one of the teams to watch.
The following week, the Western Bulldogs faced last year’s wooden spooners, St Kilda, back at home. It appeared as if they would continue their barnstorming start to the season when they led the Saints by 55 points in the third quarter, but they got ahead of themselves and ended up losing by seven points.
Losses to Fremantle and Melbourne followed, before they rebounded with a 45-point win over GWS at home in Round 9, in a match billed as a blockbuster given it pitted Tom Boyd up against the club that reluctantly traded him away for Griffen during the off-season.
As the season progressed, the team that was given no hope continued to get better and better. Between Rounds 12 and 20, the Bulldogs lost one match – by just eight points – to the Geelong Cats in Round 16.
Strong performances by the likes of Jake ‘The Package’ Stringer, captain Murphy, and second-year player Marcus Bontempelli, among others, saw the club finish the regular season sixth, qualifying for their first finals series since 2010.
Sadly, there was to be no fairytale in September, with the club’s season ending in a seven-point loss to the Crows at the MCG. The club had lobbied for this match to be played at Etihad Stadium, given their 11-2 record under the roof in 2015, and the fact that the Crows regularly don’t draw a high crowd in Victoria.
It was for the latter reason the AFL had said in August that if the Bulldogs were to earn a home final, it would only be played at Etihad Stadium if it was against the Crows, however, the possibility of a high crowd (eventually 60,782, the lowest crowd for an MCG final since the 2013 elimination final between Collingwood and Port Adelaide) meant that the match was played at the home of football instead.
It was a decision which left club legend and Channel Seven commentator Luke Darcy fuming, saying, “Can you imagine any other sport in the world where you earn the right to have a home final and you don’t get to play it?”
He pointed out that the Geelong Cats got to play a qualifying final against Fremantle, another club that regularly doesn’t draw a high crowd in Victoria, at Simonds Stadium just two years ago.
Beveridge’s efforts in lifting the Bulldogs from an absolute rabble at the end of 2014 to miracle finalists in 2015 went rewarded this week, when he was named the Coach of the Year by the AFL Coaches Association.
The Bulldogs’ impressive 2016 season will have ramifications for their 2016 draw as far as commercial and financial opportunities are concerned. The club has requested to play several Friday night games this season, after being frozen out of the timeslot for the past three years, and have jointly requested with Collingwood that they face each other at the MCG in Round 1.
An annual opening round match between these two clubs could soon become a permanent fixture, as has been the case for Richmond and Carlton (the first match at the MCG for the season) since 2008.
Given the exciting brand of football the Bulldogs produced throughout the 2015 season, it’s likely that their requests will be granted, but it will be up to them to make the most of the opportunities they are afforded in 2016.
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