The Best 10 Bulldogs Players of the Past 70 Years, in Order

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King Harold

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The best ten I have seen

Hawkins
Wynd
Libba Snr
Grant
Beasley
Johnson
Morris/Foster
Hardie
West
Bont

Hard to argue with that lot MD.
Glad you mention Moz , tends to fly under the radar in discussions like this , but what a superstar he is.
 

Mattdougie

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Hard to argue with that lot MD.
Glad you mention Moz , tends to fly under the radar in discussions like this , but what a superstar he is.

We I think we are just so used to him his value is so below what it should be.

A lot don’t rate Hardie either but his year was spectacular and shouldn’t be diminished by how he ended at the club.
 

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Sep 27, 2011
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Bontempelli’s name has got a few mentions, and rightly so. Alex Ferguson once said of Zinedine Zidane, ‘He doesn’t hurt the opposition enough’. I think Bontempelli falls into this category. He’s the most elegant, graceful, natural player in the AFL. He just needs to do more damage. Luckily for him (and us) the guy is only 22 years old. Incredible.
I disagree Bont does more with his 20-25 possessions to influence his team than just about any player in the comp. 5 under 22 All Australian teams, 1 All Australian, 2 B&Fs (including one in a premiership year) in his first 100 games puts him well and truly in our top ten list conversation and imo right up the pointy end.
 

gordo2016

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Love to see you older fans views, especially you Dogforever. They seem hard to argue with. I have followed the ‘scray since the Templeton era and one of my first memories as a 6 year old was dad telling me he’d just kicked 15 goals! I didn’t go that day, and wouldn’t have seen it anyway as I just slid down the hill on pie boxes at the Geelong road end all day until I was about 9 or 10 and started actually watching the games. Bont will be there, and he probably only needs 3 more great years to be a top 10.
Templeton was a freak and it would have been mouth watering to have him at CHF and Beasley at FF during the mid 80's. This photo was taken the day after he kicked 15 goals. Looks like he is wearing ugg boots!
western-oval-scoreboard.jpg
 

Freshwater

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Templeton was a freak and it would have been mouth watering to have him at CHF and Beasley at FF during the mid 80's. This photo was taken the day after he kicked 15 goals. Looks like he is wearing ugg boots!
western-oval-scoreboard.jpg
That’s hilarious, I’ve known of that classic photo for years but not noticed the ugg boots. Coach Don McKenzie with the old jumper under the new colour tv pattern. That classic strip, with the red shorts and white striped socks would be a better ‘clash strip’ than the white one we wear against North?
 

gordo2016

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That’s hilarious, I’ve known of that classic photo for years but not noticed the ugg boots. Coach Don McKenzie with the old jumper under the new colour tv pattern. That classic strip, with the red shorts and white striped socks would be a better ‘clash strip’ than the white one we wear against North?
I have seen the photo before too, mate. I did not notice the ugg boots until someone pointed it out to me. Interesting as well, that big Demps, skipper at the time, is not in the photo. My first memories of being at the Western Oval are of Dempsey taking mark after mark in the backline. I cried went he went to North, he was an absolute champion and easily in the top 5 Bulldogs players I have seen alongside Johnson, Grant, Hawkins and West.
 
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Cant argue with that top 10. Templeton was the main reason i stuck with the Dogs as an impressionable young boy. I followed the Dogs around Melbourne by myself on the old red rattlers in the old VFL and we copped plenty of thrashings but Kelvin nearly always kicked a bag and i kept going. Was there at bloody Vic. Park when we got thrashed but KT got 6 and reached 100 ( hope my memory is correct).

Plenty of favourites but not necessarily top 10 - Hardie, McGuiness, Foster, Beasley, Huppatz, Dunstan, Libba Snr (loved defending him against the non believers), Kretiuk, Wynd, Morris, Johnno, Crofty and Purser.

By thinking who could dislodge the OP's 10 I realised how many bloody good footballers we have had over the years and that's why I'm Dogs till i Die.

Love JJ and Bont of the current crop BTW.
 

bobs head soup

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Cant argue with that top 10. Templeton was the main reason i stuck with the Dogs as an impressionable young boy. I followed the Dogs around Melbourne by myself on the old red rattlers in the old VFL and we copped plenty of thrashings but Kelvin nearly always kicked a bag and i kept going. Was there at bloody Vic. Park when we got thrashed but KT got 6 and reached 100 ( hope my memory is correct).

Plenty of favourites but not necessarily top 10 - Hardie, McGuiness, Foster, Beasley, Huppatz, Dunstan, Libba Snr (loved defending him against the non believers), Kretiuk, Wynd, Morris, Johnno, Crofty and Purser.

By thinking who could dislodge the OP's 10 I realised how many bloody good footballers we have had over the years and that's why I'm Dogs till i Die.

Love JJ and Bont of the current crop BTW.
Nice post. Love the mention for Kretiuk. One of the toughest and most versatile Dogs of the past few decades. Great teams are built around his ilk
 
Dec 30, 2003
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Nice post. Love the mention for Kretiuk. One of the toughest and most versatile Dogs of the past few decades. Great teams are built around his ilk

Kretters gave everything didnt he? Battled the big monster forwards when he shouldn't have had to. Gave it to that 6'7" Gardiner at WO tapped Matthew Lloyd on his "sore" hand rather than shake his hand pre game. Funnily whenever we heard the Dogs had a late change we always thought it must be Kretters.
 

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gordo2016

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Cant argue with that top 10. Templeton was the main reason i stuck with the Dogs as an impressionable young boy. I followed the Dogs around Melbourne by myself on the old red rattlers in the old VFL and we copped plenty of thrashings but Kelvin nearly always kicked a bag and i kept going. Was there at bloody Vic. Park when we got thrashed but KT got 6 and reached 100 ( hope my memory is correct).
Your memory serves you correct mate, I was at the game too. The only game I saw at Vic Park where the dogs won was in 1985. Most times we got absolutely pumped there.
 

gordo2016

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I think he kicked 3 though mate, not six.
For those of us that saw the Dogs play in the mid/late 70's I thought Geoff Jennings would have been an absolute icon of the club if not for recurring injuries. Retired at just 28. Also, Ted Whitten jnr an extremely skilful player, people who saw him play would know that. Debut at just 17 years of age and retired at just 25 when he was just entering his prime.
 

The Original Swooper

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I can only go back to the 60”s, but one player back then was a standout for reliability, and a magnificent boot. Rarely see him getting the deserved accolades but then again, who would he replace in the 10 ?Ladies and gentlemen, I give you....John Jillard.
 

VogonProsthetnic

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Nathan Brown circa 2001 and 2002 was the best small forward I think I have ever seen- but I guess we could come up with a big list of couldas/shouldas/wouldas.

Be surprised if Macrae doesn't end up on the list if he keeps up the current level of performance.
 
It's not the ten best lock down defenders in the past seventy years is it, needs more Tony Maguiness.
Choco ahead of McGuinness?
 

King Harold

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For those of us that saw the Dogs play in the mid/late 70's I thought Geoff Jennings would have been an absolute icon of the club if not for recurring injuries. Retired at just 28. Also, Ted Whitten jnr an extremely skilful player, people who saw him play would know that. Debut at just 17 years of age and retired at just 25 when he was just entering his prime.

Great post.:thumbsu:
 

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