The 2016 season has shown a lot in terms of how far along certain teams are in their quest for premiership glory. Luke Beveridge’s finals bound Bulldogs have built from the ground up.
They are set for a long and distinguished opportunity as a benchmark club in the competition.
The club has never been closer to tasting their second premiership. Sure they teased us in the late 1990s and 2000s, but this Bulldogs side has a distinctive feel.
The recruiting staff need to be applauded for their excellent work in the last five years, in building this club from the ground up. After finishing top four in 2010, the Bulldogs had a disappointing 2011 season, finishing outside the top eight. The club made the decision that the list they currently have would not take them any further and sought to build through the draft.
Some thought it was too premature, that the Dogs had the right men in place to go all the way. But the club knew best, and it is coming to a sweet and deserving fruition.
The Bulldogs have netted Tory Dickson, Tom Campbell, Clay Smith, Jake Stringer, Jack Macrae, Lachie Hunter, Marcus Bontempelli, Mitch Honeychurch, Lukas Webb, Caleb Daniel, Josh Dunkley and Marcus Adams through the draft period n the last five years, a remarkable strike rate which is paying major dividends.
On top of this, the club has brought in Koby Stevens, Stewart Crameri, Matthew Suckling, Shane Biggs and Tom Boyd to compliment these youngsters, and again the recruiting staff has struck gold.
The club got all they could from evergreen veterans Adam Cooney, Shaun Higgins, Brian Lake and Daniel Cross and moved them on to advance the development of it’s younger players at a quicker rate.
The Dogs have stuck to their guns, played the youngsters and watched them flourish into an exciting, ruthless and tough football side.
The club also hit the nail on the head by bringing in Luke Beveridge, a tough strategist who has had major successes in the VFA and as an assistant coach to Alastair Clarkson at Hawthorn.
What Beveridge has brought is discipline and much-needed leadership.
The Bulldogs also possess the perfect balance of youth and seniority, with such players as Easton Wood, Matthew Boyd, Dale Morris, Robert Murphy and Will Minson providing the stability and leadership for a young side.
What is scary for opposition clubs is how young their core group is and the fact they are not at the peak of their powers. Bontempelli is 20, Macrae 22, Liberatore 24, Wallis 23, Boyd 20, Stringer 22, Hunter 21, Daniel 19, Dalhaus 23, Johannisen 23 and Stevens 25.
Once the Bulldog veterans dissolve out of the side, Beveridge has an army of young players ready to step into their prime as footballers.
The recruitment team needs to be lauded for their ability as a team and finding the footballers to take this club to the next level.
They are a destination club and a team that has provided an example of what can be achieved by utilising the National Draft and nailing its picks year by year.
Luke Beveridge is the real deal, the Bulldogs are the real deal. With a little bit more maturity and games the club will build a dynasty that will be a satisfying and worthwhile adventure for suffering Bulldogs supporters.
Paul W
Guest
Meanwhile the Cats are the only Victorian team with any sort of home ground advantage.
Ashley
Guest
Cat surely you are not stupid enough to post stuff like dogs cushie draw. If you were a bit smarter and did research you wil find they have lost more games at Edihad then interstate and the MCG. keep trying.
Richard
Guest
3 PEAT !!
Cat
Roar Guru
You keep spewing that and eventually you may even convince yourself it's true matty. At least with Geelong you haven't changed your tack, unlike your constant vain attempts to put down Carlton that also continuously miss the mark by a wide margin. You keep mentioning luck but yet to have made a single attempt to explain what you mean by that statement. What luck? Was it luck that humiliated the Dogs by 57 points on their own ground? Nope, sure wasn't. Dogs were just found not good enough, as usual. You've some nerve talking about soft schedules considering the super soft and comfy draw the Dogs had. How many rounds before you left Melbourne? How many weeks in a row at Etihad? You continue to beat up on the bad sides and emulate the flat track bully method like West Coast, you'll get found wanting, just like they did. Bulldogs struggle against good sides now, just wait until the finals when the real pressure is applied.
mattyb
Guest
It's easy to look past or gloss over some of these woeful performances by Geelong but they paint a picture of a side that relies far to much on far to few. Their inconsistent form means it is hard to see them winning enough games in a row to even contest in this year's GF. I think Richard is again right with his claims that Geelong are looking far to much into the past rather than the future. The Bulldogs have been able to keep pace despite some telling injuries while Geelong have been extremely inconsistent despite having a full list for virtually the whole season. In coming weeks you would expect the Dogs to really start gathering some momentum heading towards the finals while Geelong need to overcome their terrible inconsistency and hope that the huge slice of luck they have been enjoying continues. With North and Geelong out of contention it looks like a race between six sides now and I'd certainly give the Dogs a very good chance of getting this dynasty underway as soon as this season.
BeMoreBulldog
Guest
If you're comfortable with falling short against bottom 8 sides, good luck to you champ.
justinr
Guest
It's hard for the less wealthy Vic clubs to create dynasties, but this team has a serious chance of breaking the drought.
Cat
Roar Guru
How many bottom 8 sides will be playing finals? Thanks for trying.
BeMoreBulldog
Guest
Cat, against bottom 8 sides, Geelong have lost 3 from 7...Dogs have lost none from 7...Guess Geelong are ahead in that stat too...
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Thanks for the article Nick. You're right, Simon Dalrymple deserves a massive pat-on-the-back for his recruitment, particularly during three years of highly compromised drafts, which some other clubs have used as an excuse (e.g. Richmond). Apart from stuffing-up his first year when he drafted Christian Howard with our first pick (instead of Fyfe), Dalrymple has been exceptional. And the drafting has included a filter on character, which is resulting in good young leaders being drafted, not just good young footballers.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
a la top 10 pick Ayce Cordy
Pumping Dougie
Guest
I'm not sure that's right, Me Too. It's only an issue if Boyd doesn't come good. All of our guns are on extended contracts. We were one of the few teams paying under the cap before we drafted Boyd and we've offloaded high salaries in Griffen, Cooney, Lake and Higgins. Plus, with the expanding tv rights the salary cap is set to expand. $900k per year for a star (IF he becomes one) won't be a problem in that context.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
True Luke, although only Libber and Wallis were obvious picks. Hunter was somewhat of a speculative FS pick who has unexpectedly turned into a star.
Richard
Guest
Never look back JohnDee.. Move forward..
Cat
Roar Guru
Geelong vs. top 8: 6-1 Bulldogs vs top 8: 3-4 Geelong's average winning margin against top 8: 33 points Bulldog's average winning margin against top 8: 9 points Geelong's average losing margin against top 8: 13 points Bulldog's average losing margin against top 8: 25.25 points Geelong's biggest winning margin against top 8: 57 points Bulldog's biggest winning margin against top 8: 15 points Geelong's biggest losing margin against top 8: 13 points Bulldog's biggest losing margin against top 8: 57 points Advantage Geelong in every single category.
Nobbler
Guest
I'm an Eagles supporter but if there is another team I'd like to see win a flag it's the Bulldogs. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
JohnDee
Guest
The draw has helped paper over the cracks? Is that what you're smoking? Crack? So when Geelong beat the Bulldogs, Hawthorn, Adelaide, GWS, NM and WC, that was because of the draw was it?
JohnDee
Guest
Never look back Richard.. Move forward..
mattyb
Guest
Richard,with Geelong being so poor last season there was always a huge risk that putting all their eggs into the Dangerfield basket hoping to improve was going to not work out like they had anticipated. The kind draw has helped to paper over some of the cracks in their list but now that we are moving beyond the half way mark of the season the cracks really are beginning to show. Would be very surprised if they made the top four but if their luck sees them make it they will do very little damage. The unfortunate thing though is they have managed their list so poorly to snare Dangerfield they could be in for some real long term pain one would imagine.
JohnDee
Guest
I'm sorry, but if beating 3 top 8 teams (2 of them top 4) in succession isn't classed as "on fire", I'm not too sure what is. After the Dogs game the Cats were premiership favourites, so you may not have thought they were on, but a lot of people sure as hell did! The dogs just scraped across the line on the weekend, and were obliterated by the cats in their previous game, so I won't be going off your definition because I don't think you understand what the term means.