The champagne has dried off and the balloons have been popped. Now, it’s time for the Western Bulldogs to do one thing – repeat.
With the Dogs well back into their preseason training, the premiership celebrations have ended – for the players and coaches, anyway. It’s unlikely the fans will ever stop the championship festivities, and who can blame them? The Bulldogs’ 2016 flag was historic on so many levels and it made for the perfect football fairytale.
The stories from the Grand Final win over Sydney will live forever, but if there is anything better than winning the premiership, it’s doing it twice. This is the challenge for the Bulldogs in 2017 – and they have the team to do it.
The biggest name for the Dogs probably isn’t even in their best 22. Luke Beveridge put on a coaching master class last season and has been lauded ever since. The belief he embedded into his players, and the passion he coached with, netted him the ‘Spirit of Sport’ Award from the Sport Australian Hall of Fame, thanks to his heartwarming handing over of the premiership medallion to Robert Murphy.
What Beveridge may be more grateful for, though, is having Murphy back on the field in 2017. The captain’s inclusion gives the Dogs’ defence a whole new dimension. Murphy gives his squad another intercept marking, and rebounding, defender, to complement the skills of Easton Wood and Jason Johannisen.
Meanwhile, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better three-man combo down back than Matthew Boyd, Marcus Adams and Dale Morris. For an indication of how deep the Bulldogs’ backline bats, Shane Biggs and Matthew Suckling can’t even crack the field in the best 22. This is no knock on Biggs or Suckling, as they’re both strong contributors. Rather, it’s a representation of how many weapons Beveridge has at his hands in defence.
At the other end of the ground, the Bulldogs will look a bit different with the addition of ex-Magpie, Travis Cloke. The 29-year-old, despite battling form slumps with Collingwood, fills a gap with the Dogs and should slot into their best 22.
Cloke won’t be asked to do much with the Bulldogs. Instead, he will be playing second fiddle to Tom Boyd, who realised his potential with a terrific finals series, both up forward and in back-up ruck duty. They finally get the services of Stewart Crameri back, giving the premiers another scoring threat, while the ever-present Tory Dickson is always a goal sneak.
The final piece of the Bulldogs’ puzzle is in the middle, where they have one of the competition’s most ferocious sets of midfielders.
Marcus Bontempelli is a special talent and should be considered a Brownlow favourite. Son of a gun, Tom Liberatore, didn’t miss a beat in his return from an ACL injury, playing with a relentless mindset. Surrounding that duo is Luke Dahlhaus, Lachie Hunter and the returning Mitch Wallis, who are all great players in their own right.
Even the likes of Caleb Daniel and Liam Picken can run through the guts.
The Bulldogs’ depth may get tested this season, with the departures of Koby Stevens (St Kilda), Nathan Hrovat (North Melbourne) and Joel Hamling (Fremantle). However, with the list Beveridge has, it shouldn’t be a huge issue, as the Dogs have every chance to go back to back.
The Bulldogs’ Best 22:
B: Matthew Boyd, Marcus Adams, Dale Morris
HB: Jason Johannisen, Easton Wood, Robert Murphy
C: Mitch Wallis, Marcus Bontempelli, Lachie Hunter
HF: Tory Dickson, Travis Cloke, Jackson Macrae
F: Stewart Crameri, Tom Boyd, Jake Stringer
Foll: Jordan Roughead, Tom Liberatore, Luke Dahlhaus
INT: Caleb Daniel, Liam Picken, Shane Biggs, Matthew Suckling
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