Is this the best Bulldogs team you've ever seen?

Is it?


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Wetdog

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Jun 23, 2008
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On paper, its right up there. Not sure if it really matters however if they don't win the flag.

Apart from that I thought the 98 side which finished 2nd to Norf in the regular season was the best team I've seen.

‘On paper’ is a funny concept isn’t it? I think we tend to focus on the careers of each player rather than how they performed and played together in that particular year. It’s easier on the memory perhaps?

I recon ‘on paper’ there are a couple of superior bulldog teams than the 2016 one over the 30 years I’ve been watching footy.

But in reality I feel like I’ve never seen a better performance from a bulldogs team than the 2016 bulldogs. On paper doesn’t seem to do them justice or reflect how good they were as a playing unit. It’s hard to explain. You just have to watch the games.

It’s early days but this 2021 team seems superior by a fair way with a better forward line and midfield than 2016. Maybe the defence is on a par? But have they performed better than the 2016 team? Not yet. But they haven’t had the opportunity to and that will come over the next 3-4 months. I’m excited to see what happens.
 

The Buck

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Sewell was a good player and kicked a couple in the prelim but teams seemed to have more talls in those days.

Yes, but it's funny how the definition of tall has changed of the decades.
Andrew Purser (193 centimetres), Peter Foster (188 centimetres), Simon Beasley (195 centimetres).
 

D Mitchell

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But in reality I feel like I’ve never seen a better performance from a bulldogs team than the 2016 bulldogs. On paper doesn’t seem to do them justice or reflect how good they were as a playing unit. It’s hard to explain. You just have to watch the games.

"On paper", 2016 team should have been eliminated in Perth. Two iffy tall defenders who couldn't nail down spots during the season, 1 tall forward, playing as a defensive forward and a handful of under 20 y o mids. Was it Bev and Libber's beatbox that won it ?
 
The 2016 team had deficiencies, but played out of their skins. Tom Boyd playing like Wayne Carey on the big day being the best example. This year's team is better in nearly every respect and still carrying a couple of passengers. It has the talent to be the best Bulldogs team. Just 11 wins from the last 17 games will equal our best H&A seasons, but probably should better that. It's the most excited I've ever been about the footy!
 

Wetdog

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"On paper", 2016 team should have been eliminated in Perth. Two iffy tall defenders who couldn't nail down spots during the season, 1 tall forward, playing as a defensive forward and a handful of under 20 y o mids. Was it Bev and Libber's beatbox that won it ?

I’m tempted to start a thread just to reminisce about 2016!

But perhaps it would be wise to wait for a season when we’re on the bottom of the ladder doing a wholesale list rebuild...
 
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I can’t really comment on past teams, I was probably most invested or able to remember most of all the 08-10 team and 2016.

I think our 08-10 backline was superior to our 2016 and current backline. Lake, Morris, Hargrave, Gilbee etc.

Our current midfield is better than either 08-10 and 2016.

Rucks. Probably close but 08-10 Hudson and Minson although both offered little forward. Current and 2016 probably level

Tall forwards our current ones are in front of all the others. Yeah hall was brilliant but we arent as one dimensional. So current first, 08-10 and then 2016.

Small/medium forwards. 08-10 would be in front, 2016 second and current smalls last.

I think 08-10 were better but they were at their absolute peak. Current squad demographically hasn’t hit it peak yet so could end up there. 2016 was remarkable but is probably third in terms of ability
 

D Mitchell

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I’m tempted to start a thread just to reminisce about 2016!
Handballs in a telephone box. It defied logic and redefined wonderment. The whole of Melbourne felt good about it. The next one has to be soon and more normal, perhaps with a bit of contempt from supporters of other clubs ?.
 
Handballs in a telephone box. It defied logic and redefined wonderment. The whole of Melbourne felt good about it. The next one has to be soon and more normal, perhaps with a bit of contempt from supporters of other clubs ?.

You're not familiar with the saltiness of Swans supporters after 2016? 🥴

#thesaltisreal
 
[
2068 side was the best Bulldogs side to ever exist. Shoeshine Bontempelli was the best key forward in the game and she kicked 207 super goals that year. The first woman to ever win the Coleman medal since the AFL became mixed gender. Biological augmentation and gene editing meant there was no longer any advantage or disadvantage for birth sex. Khaleesi Liberatore was the Brownlow medallist that year. Down back we had an AA key defender in Kegoralanderson Daniel, grandson of Caleb, who stood at a towering 300cm (the maximum height allowed by NWO regulations.) Unfortunately the human race would only survive another two decades after that and we would never see a better Bulldogs side than that one.
Sounds like a DreamWorks movie.
 

Cookie

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Was a good team but there is a myth about Essendon being scared of us.

Yes we did beat them at the then Western oval but in the return bout at Windy hill their lead ballooned out to over 11 goals before we got some junk time goals.

It was a good team but was certainly not even the best team of that year let alone of the doggies

According to a couple of mates who on Essendon's list, they didn't want to get us in the GF. No myth about it.
Your last point is moot considering the thread title.
 
‘On paper’ is a funny concept isn’t it? I think we tend to focus on the careers of each player rather than how they performed and played together in that particular year. It’s easier on the memory perhaps?

I recon ‘on paper’ there are a couple of superior bulldog teams than the 2016 one over the 30 years I’ve been watching footy.

But in reality I feel like I’ve never seen a better performance from a bulldogs team than the 2016 bulldogs. On paper doesn’t seem to do them justice or reflect how good they were as a playing unit. It’s hard to explain. You just have to watch the games.

It’s early days but this 2021 team seems superior by a fair way with a better forward line and midfield than 2016. Maybe the defence is on a par? But have they performed better than the 2016 team? Not yet. But they haven’t had the opportunity to and that will come over the next 3-4 months. I’m excited to see what happens.
Reason: Bevo.
 

Wetdog

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Reason: Bevo.

As the years go by, I appreciate more and more how brilliant him and the coaching panel were in 2016. To win a premiership with that list was an impressive effort.

Contrast that to what Scott did with Geelong in 2011. In my view Scott is not even close to the same level of achievement. Yet they are both premiership coaches with 1 flag each. Just goes to show the stat book doesn’t always tell the full story.
 
As the years go by, I appreciate more and more how brilliant him and the coaching panel were in 2016. To win a premiership with that list was an impressive effort.

Contrast that to what Scott did with Geelong in 2011. In my view Scott is not even close to the same level of achievement. Yet they are both premiership coaches with 1 flag each. Just goes to show the stat book doesn’t always tell the full story.
Scott inherited a ready-to-go team that had won the flag 2 years earlier. He just had to sit back and watch. ;) Since then, though...
 

Bald

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I don't know if it's the best Dogs team I've ever seen but I think the word that best describes how I feel about this current team is trust.

Even last year I didn't have it, but I've been to every game this year with round one being the only exception and there are very few players when they've got the ball in their hand, I don't trust.
 
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