It’s pretty funny that people (nuffies) just write off the Dogs 2016 because we finished 7th. Here are the win/loss records of the three teams:
2016 Dogs: 15-7 115%
2017 Tigers: 15-7 118%
2018 Eagles: 16-6 121%
Both the 2017 Tigers record and the Eagles 2018 record would have placed them at 7th in 2016, the same spot as the Dogs.
And we did what we did with a pretty miserable injury run during the H&A. I think if we hadn’t lost Murphy, Macrae, Libba, Dahlhaus, Wallis, and others for long stretches we might have won another game or two. But ultimately it didn’t matter.
IMO 2016 was the most competitive at the top end, of the three years. Sydney, Hawthorn and Geelong still hadn’t tailed off (both Hawthorn and Sydney would drop the next year), GWS were at their absolute peak (it has since turned out), Adelaide were nearly at their peak. Even the Eagles in 6th were coming off a grand final and would drop off in 2017.
At the end of the day, I love that we did it from 7th in a ridiculously competive year, winning four consecutive finals, across three states, and knocking off 3/4 of the top 4. It was awesome. And unlikely to soon be repeated.
No disrespect to the Tigs & Eagles either, as they were both great sides and worthy premiers with arguments to be made for each of them (I’m not answering the thread question), just pointing out some things that get ignored about the Dogs and 2016.
Agreed. Was a very even year, and Bulldogs played well all season. There was only a couple of games that were substantial losses if I recall. People act like Bulldogs came out of nowhere when after watching that season numerous times, they were in up to their necks in most games.