This season is greatly overstated and highly misunderstood. The dogs were 12-4 and 3rd placed. They were the 3rd best team behind Geelong and Sydney. Then a catastrophic series of injuries (e.g. Wallis broken leg in rd18 vs saints, which started the collapse) led to an artificial deflation of their ladder position behind WCE, Crows and GWS (all teams they beat once or twice). The pre-finals bye then artificially allowed them to recover and realistically be the 3rd best team in the race again. Sydney upsetting Geelong meant they played a team they had beaten (instead of one they lost to twice). They beat 3 teams they were far better than and had a better game on GF day which is not that rare e.g. hawks upset cats, cats upset saints and pies, swans upset hawks. This is a story of a 3rd best team winning which is common, Hawks 2015, Tigers 2017,19,20. It is not a story of a mediocre team going a random run from nowhere, that is the '97 and (in particular) '98 crows.
The fact Luke Bereridge came out and said "if the umps aren't going to call 'incorrect disposal'...we'll keep doing it." Says volumes. The next season Richmond adopted this mantra and their coach Damien Hardwick said "The Bulldogs won a premiership playing a style of football where their disposal was questionable....we'll do the same and see what happens." They won three flags in four years essentially dropping the ball whenever pressured. 'The so-called 'Tiger Tap On'. And now the AFL landscape is riddled with incorrect disposals predominantly during tackles. The AFL allowed a club to win a flag playing this brand of awful football and many clubs took note and copied them. The AFL stuffed up Aussie Rules football.
I still remember all of these games going to them with my dad and brother when i was 10 years old and going to the grand-final game, i still remember to this day seeing my dad cry when that siren rang crowning us as afl premiers for 2016. Go doggies 🐶
It wasn't just that game, it was the whole finals series for the Bulldogs. I think they genuinely beat Eagles in week 1. But Hawks, Giants then Sydney was just disgusting from the umpires, it couldn't be more obvious.
In a game with 192 total tackles the swans got 2 free kicks a quarter… not to mention the below the knees attempts that just somehow got missed. Hannerbury was never the same after that game
@@christopherryan7780 hanneburys incidentwas nothing that could be a free wood got the ball brought it in hannebury still went for it and it didnt work out for him
@@StrangeLittlePoet123 the free kick count was 20-8 in favour of the dogs and they only lost by 22, if the free kick count was even they probably would’ve won
@@Dylan-bc2po. West coast win was 100 a fair game dogs were just the better team on the night. The last 3 games however where the afl saw a chance for a money grab and good story. You can possibly sit there even as a bulldogs supporter and think it was fair. The gws prelim was just as bad if not worse then the grand final. There’s a reason the dogs finish on top of the free kick tall every single year. Sure the umpires and afl made plenty betting on that series
If you read The Boys Club, the Swans were on the nose with the AFL for ruining their plan to have Buddy at GWS. Makes you think they bent the rules a bit and told the umps to give the Bulldogs any half free and let the ones against them slide. Luckily the Swans have one of the more tame supporter bases and neutrals got caught up in the Bulldogs fairytale.
Getting to the Grand Final was miraculous. The AFL basically gift wrapped them the flag once they were there. Still probably the worst umpired game Ive ever watched.
LMAOOO The most tainted premiership in the history of the game. All the dogs players need to hand back their medals for match fixing and cheating @@bdh15
Saved by the bye, they got half a list back. I'm a Hawthorn supporter and I was kind of glad the doggies beat us tbh because we would have lost to the Giants with all the outs we had and I really didn't want GWS to win at the time. Dogs were my only hope.
It breaks my heart as a Bulldogs supporter to see so much hate instead of respect for what they were able to achieve the bulldogs didn't cheat or break any rules to win the flag I don't understand why everyone is so jealous and salty they had an injury wridden side and would've won by significantly more if they had those boys back come finals they took advantage of the 666 rule and were harder at the contest that's it. There shouldn't be any other argument that's just what it is.
Noone is jealous or salty :D the AFL literally had to come out and apologise for the state of the umpiring that game. The most rigged game in AFL history
When you win it clean and fair you get the respect you deserve, and unfortunately there was nothing clean about that run or GF... oh well, maybe when they win their next one in 52 years time they'll get the respect they so badly crave.
Nobody’s jealous, the afl knew who they wanted to win that day. I mean if my team won the Gf the way the dogs did that day it would feel hollow. I know it’s not entirely the bulldogs fault, my love of the sport has never been the same after this game.
Credit where it's due. As complete under-DOGS they won four finals, including two finals interstate and the GF. Must be one of the greatest finals campaigns
Weren’t underdogs, 3rd best team in the comp, only placed 7th because of their injuries, played teams they were better than and got favoured by the umps in the granny. Overrated
2012 Grand Final free kick tally - Hawthorn 21 Sydney 10. Virtually identical and yet we never hear boo about it. Why? Oh yeah it's only a problem when you lose. Dogs were clearly the better team and ran away with it when the game was up for grabs in the last ten minutes. Only a complete idiot would think the Swans were superior on the day.
same hawthorn team that is notoriously known as free kick hawthorn? people complain bc it allowed them to win, im sure there were complaints but once sydney won the game wat is the point of crying when youve won, unless u really care that much. truth is there were plenty of missed frees for the swans, some for bulldogs, but it wouldve evened out in a perfect world, which we dont live in. but ofc people wont complain when theyve won, u think that 11 free kick defecit didnt help the hawks? ofc it did
Went to the Prelim final vs Giants with an old mate on the doggies bus to Sydney from Melbourne and as a pies fan it’s the game that sticks in my mind the most besides the ‘23 granny. The crowd was as loud as the G packed, never forget it.
LOLLLLLL literally the most rigged grand final in history, the AFL had to come out and apologize how bad it was. From the first minute it was obvious who was going to win that game and it wasn't going to be the Swans. I was there as a neutral that day and it was even more obvious at the ground just how much the dogs threw and dropped their way to that premiership. Will forever have an *
Is was the craziest final series I have ever seen dogs finished 7 and able to win against the big teams 1st 2nd and 3rd I did not know how bevo Planned this out. And able to nail there way to a premiership
I hate the "won from 7th" rhetoric. It's so bullshit lol The difference between 1st and 7th in 2016 was 8 points. *Two* wins. Check any other year recently and I doubt it'd be as close as that. In fact, the closest in recent years was three wins back in 2012, with some years having differences of up to 5 wins. Now if a team won from 7th when there is that big a difference in quality, then I'd be calling it a miracle unlikely underdog story. But unfortunately for the doggies, it isn't. People like to imagine that the doggies were complete and utter underdogs and just had the run of their lives in finals, but they were effectively on equal grounds with each team they faced. The only difficulty they faced was having to play four games, not three. They didn't do anything special
Doesn't matter how many wins they had, it matters where they finished on the ladder. Finishing 7th meant they had to travel to West Coast, back to Melbourne, up to Sydney and then back to Melbourne again. It was the best finals run of the AFL era mate, don't be salty.
The 2016 GF was when I lost my true love for this sport, the umpiring in this game was atrocious, I know it the swans and it’s expected but 20-8 free kicks in what was a really tight game, really turned me off the sport.
Before injuries got em, dogs were 2nd on the ladder and doing awesome That bye week between the last round d of the home And away to finals they got like 7 of their 22 back. It was hardly surprising if you consider that
Man that would be a flip if gws won…. That would have ended up the first interstate derby grand final… actually that almost happened some years ago with freo and eagles…
@@11Eighty6lowest ranked team ever to win a flag. That’s what’s impressive and yes we didn’t win one for 60 years but WE did win one then. And that’s all that matters
