The Western Bulldogs Best 20 Games: 10-6

The Footscray/Western Bulldogs Football Club will play their 2000th V/AFL game this Saturday against Hawthorn at UTAS Stadium and as such the team at The Salty Bulldog believes it would be quite fitting to celebrate the milestone by ranking the 20 best games in the club’s history.

In our previous 1999 games, the Bulldogs have had 907 wins, 22 draws, and 1070 losses for an overall winning percentage of 45.4%.

The Bulldogs are the last of the Victorian clubs to reach the milestone after taking 96 years, three months, and 13 days to reach our 2000th match.

In the third edition of our top 20 games, The Salty Bulldog will be revealing the games ranked 10th through to 6th with the remaining matches to follow through the rest of the week in the leadup to the game.

10) Round 5, 2015, SCG

Sydney Swans 10.13.73 def by Western Bulldogs 11.11.77

"They'll hang on the Dogs! They are going to hang on! Mark this day down Western Bulldogs fans Saturday, May 2nd, 2015! This Club... This is just amazing look at these scenes!"

These are the famous words uttered by commentator Anthony Hudson after the Western Bulldogs had pulled off the upset of the season and arguably their biggest home and away win of the century or at least is up there with the stunning victory over Essendon in 2000.

From a Club that almost seven months earlier on October 13th, 2014 seemed rather broken and a shattered version of what it had previously been, there finally seemed to be some genuine light at the end of a very dark tunnel and it laid the path for what was one of the most thrilling seasons in the club's history as they made the top eight for the first time in four years. The win was also their first at the SCG since 2008.

Coming up against a vastly more experienced, hardened Sydney Swans outfit that had played finals in every year since 2004 (bar 2009), a team who played in two of the past three Grand Finals which included a premiership and it was also a side that had won the previous five encounters between the two clubs, the most recent by 63 points. It would be a very tough ask, to say the least.

The difference for the average age between the two sides could not have been greater with the gap a tremendous three years and eighty days. On top of that, there was the small matter of an extra 1472 games and 1503 goals too. It is probably one of the biggest differentials for any respective game in V/AFL history

After a promising start to the 2015 season (3-1), the Western Bulldogs were in for one of their biggest tests and felt the heat early on conceding the opening two goals but sparked into action to kick the next six.

And then the rain came which would turn the game into a massive battle of willpower and determination. As much as the Swans kept coming throughout the day the Bulldogs would not lay down and did just enough at the next two major breaks to keep them at bay.

The final quarter left many fans a nervous wreck as the Swans who hadn't lead since early on in the opening quarter took the lead at the 14-minute mark of the final term through Harry Cunningham.

The intensity continued to rise but goals were still at a premium in the wet weather. Out of nothing, Easton Wood - who would go on to be our stand-in premiership captain the following year - put us back in front by two points with a karate kick in the goal square with just under six minutes to go.

The final few minutes seemed to go on for what felt like an eternity but we defended with immense courage to hold on for a famous victory.

It was a day that no doubt will be remembered fondly for young and old supporters of the Western Bulldogs for many, many years and it no doubt planted the seeds for success not just for 2015 but for the years to come with that squad, giving it the belief that it was capable of achieving incredible things that other sides wouldn't even get close to re-enacting.

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge celebrates with captain Robert Murphy as the Dogs pulled off the unthinkable at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Source: WOOF.

9) Semi-Final, 1953, Melbourne Cricket Ground

Footscray 6.13.49 def Essendon 5.11.41

By this stage, even the most hopeful of Footscray fans may have started to believe that a finals win would forever elude the club.

Footscray had lost each of their first six finals, crashing out in the first week at each stage in an era spanning from 1938-51.

In 1953, however, they encountered Essendon for the third time in September, having previously lost to them in 1944 and 1951. And with the Bombers containing a star-studded side that included goalkicking icon John Coleman and Brownlow Medalist-elect Bill Hutchinson, while the Bulldogs lacked their own star forward in Jack Collins who missed the game with a four-match suspension. Things looked bleak.

But in windy conditions, the ‘Scray burst out of the blocks, kicking 3.7 to 1.0 in the opening term, very quickly gaining the upper hand. But the Bombers responded in kind, drawing the margin back to one point by halftime.

Kicking with a strong breeze in the third term, many thought Footscray had missed their chance to post a winning score with both sides kicking one goal apiece, but unlike the Footscray sides of yesteryear, these Bulldogs rallied in the last term. Into what was described as 80kph winds, goals from Lionel Ollington and Premiership hero John Kerr helped steady the ship for Footscray, while Herb Henderson kept Coleman in check, restricting the goalkicking star to just one goal for the game. At last, after seven attempts, Footscray had reached their first Grand Final qualifier.

Footscray Captain Charlie Sutton applies a tackle in the 1953 First Semi Final against Essendon. Source: Argus

8) Round 2, 1925, Western Oval

Footscray 10.10.70 def South Melbourne 8.12.60

Round 2 in 1925 certainly was a special occasion for the Footscray Football Club as the day marked the Club's first-ever victory in the Victorian Football League after being promoted from the Victorian Football Association the season earlier. The fact that it came in front of their home crowd made it all the more special.

Coming up against a South Melbourne outfit that had finished second in the previous Home and Away season and had defeated Carlton by 38 points in round one, it was quite the challenge for the 'Scray to tackle.

Footscray started the better of the two sides as they took a four-goal to two advantage at the first break but the Swans would reel in the deficit to four points at halftime. The third quarter was an even contest and see-sawing affair but the 'Scray still held a seven-point lead at three-quarter time. The crowd could sense that Footscray was a strong chance in the final quarter and proved to be the case as they held on for a 10 point victory. With three goals each to Tommy McHenry and Tom Mullens history was achieved and Footscray had made its mark in the VFL and was here to stay.

7) Round 1, 1925, Brunswick St Oval

Fitzroy 8.15.63 def Footscray 8.6.54

For everything that the Bulldogs have achieved in their history, none of it would be possible without the game that started it all.

With the club forced to lose most of its best players as it transitioned from the VFA to the VFL at the end of the 1924 season, Footscray was forced to field a very inexperienced side for their first ever game - on the road against a Fitzroy outfit that finished third in the season prior.

The first league goal in Footscray's history was kicked by George Bayliss in the opening term while, in a sign of things to come, future Brownlow Medallist Alan Hopkins led the way with three goals on debut. Even in defeat, many were impressed by Footscray's ability to match it with a side that would miss out on finals only by percentage at the end of the season. Footscray also defeated Fitzroy in the return fixture later that year.

6) Second Semi Final, 1954, Melbourne Cricket Ground

Footscray 11.19.85 def Geelong 8.14.62

Arguably one of the greatest sides Footscray has ever produced, the Bulldogs finished the 1954 home-and-away season entrenched in the top two, securing the double-chance for the first time in the club's history. The only thing that stood in their way from making a Grand Final were the minor premiers Geelong, who had defeated Footscray by just four points earlier in the season, and defeated them in the Preliminary Final the year prior.

With captain Charlie Sutton still sidelined due to injury, Wally Donald took the reigns as acting captain, and after a slow start, Footscray built a 17-point lead at halftime thanks for a four-goal-to-none second quarter.

Not to be denied, the Cats responded with a three-goal-to-none term of their own to level the scores at three-quarter-time, but this year was to be Footscray's. They settled, and thanks to a four-goal haul from Jack Collins, powered away from the Cats in the final term to reach their first-ever Grand Final, 29 years on from their first game in the big time back in 1925. The rest, as they say, is history.