The Western Bulldogs Best 20 Games: 5-1

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 fourth and final edition of our top 20 games, The Salty Bulldog will be revealing the games ranked 5th through to 1st for the leadup to the game.

5) Round 21, 2000, Telstra Dome

Essendon Bombers 12.9.81 def by Western Bulldogs 14.8.92

Needing to win to secure a finals berth the Dogs would line up with some of their finest ever footballers in Chris Grant, Brad Johnson, Scott West and Rohan Smith.

To do so we would have to deal with the small matter of defeating the all-conquering Essendon Bombers who has vanquished everyone before them that season after tasting victory in their previous 20 games with seven of them by 10 or more goals.

It seemed an insurmountable task that lay ahead but some innovative coaching from Terry Wallace would see the introduction of the infamous flood come to life.

The plan seemed to be working with the scores tied at halftime (45 apiece) but the Bombers seized the initiative and took a 15-point lead at three-quarter time after kicking four goals to the Dogs two and it seemed that they would continue on their merry way and finish what they started.

On the other hand, the Dogs had done what they had to do and keep the game within arms reach to give themselves a chance to end Essendon's winning streak. It was time to release the shackles and play football.

Time continued to tick but it was the Bombers who still lead with just two minutes remaining.

A misguided shot on goal from Nathan Eagleton would see Essendon defender Dustin Fletcher accidentally boot the ball out on the full which resulted in Chris Grant being given the chance to put the Dogs in front from a tight angle.

Grant who put on a clinical performance that Friday night with his 29th disposal put the Dogs in front by five points with a left-foot snap from the pocket with just 90 seconds left in the game and brought the crowd to their feet.

The Dogs would defend desperately as Essendon went inside 50 but there were still a few moments that left Dogs fans with their hearts in their mouths but they continued to fight and scrap their way to the wing.

West would pick up the loose ball from a boundary throw and handpassed to Kolynuik who would chip a short pass just inside 50 for Rohan Smith to mark just before the siren.

The Western Bulldogs had beat the unbeatable and 45,725 people under the roof at Telstra Dome were stunned with what the hell just happened.

The famous win would assure the Bulldogs their place in the finals and a club-record four consecutive finals series whilst denying Essendon the chance for a perfect season.

Although there still has not been a "perfect 25-0" season in modern football, the closest anyone has got was Geelong in 1952 and 1953 where they won 23 consecutive matches across both years.

Nathan Eagleton and Rohan Smith come together and celebrate the incredible victory that secured finals action for the Western Bulldogs. Source: Vince Caligiuri

4) Round 18, 1944, Princes Park

Carlton 13.10.88 def by Footscray 12.17.89

“I’ve never heard about this game. What’s so special about this one?” I hear you complain/ask. Bear with us on this one; this is one of the greatest moments in Footscray history, and easily the most underrated.

Let’s set the scene: it’s the final day of the 1944 home and away season. Footscray sit half a game outside the top 4, and are set to clash with the side currently occupying that coveted 4th spot - Carlton.

So the equation is pretty simple: beat Carlton, and September action awaits. But (and this is important) only a win will do; a draw will not be enough.

There’s just one problem. Footscray haven’t won at Princes Park in 14 years, and have only won two of their previous 16 visits to the venue. Carlton, meanwhile, have lost at home just once all year. History is not looking favourable.

Despite a slow start, Footscray managed to keep within touch of the Blues, trailing by only seven points at halftime, before making their move in the third term, with a four-goal-to-two quarter

But it was the last quarter where all the excitement took place.

Poor goalkicking from Footscray opened the door for Carlton to edge out to a seven-point lead late into time-on, but Bill Wood intercepted a kick-in to covert his sixth goal, before Joe Ryan kicked another point to tie the scores.

With just seconds left, Harry Hickey marks the ball about 40m out from goal, before teammate Jim Miller told Hickey to hold onto the ball, as the siren had sounded. Miller later admitted that the siren had gone well before Hickey’s mark, but hoped that the noise of the crowd would drown out the noise so that the umpire wouldn’t hear the siren. Once Hickey had taken the mark, Miller drew the umpires’ attention to the siren:

Hickey even asked Miller to take the kick for him, as he didn’t think he had the distance in him. But as a gush of wind came over his shoulder, Hickey took it upon himself to take the shot, although was forced to rely on kicking a torpedo punt, rather than his preferred drop kick. Hickey almost collided with the man on the mark he got that close to him, but, with the season literally riding on Hickey’s boot, the kick took off and sailed through for a minor score - enough to give Footscray a one-point win and a spot in the finals.

As if this game wasn’t already short of layers, this was the first time in league history that a match was won by kicking a point after the siren; what dramatic circumstances to do it in.

3) Grand Final, 2016, Melbourne Cricket Ground

Sydney Swans 10.7.67 def by Western Bulldogs 13.11.89

62 years is a long time and is a lifetime for many.

The Western Bulldogs had only saluted just the one time in their previous 91 seasons in the V/AFL and had only made the two Grand Finals. Even St Kilda and North Melbourne who had 40 wooden spoons between them had made seven and nine Grand Finals respectively despite their battlers status.

The Western Bulldogs have had many talented sides throughout its history but there has always been an element of it being inferior to the very best or lacked the real belief that they could and should have gone all the way.

Under coach Luke Beveridge that had certainly changed and he had instilled an unwavering amount of support and belief into the playing group that it was well and truly capable of achieving great feats.

The 2016 AFL Season saw the Dogs tested in more ways than one as it seemed almost every week a key member of the side would suffer a long-term injury.

We had eliminated a side that had humiliated us on several occasions at Subiaco in the West Coast Eagles. We had eliminated a monster of modern football in the three-peat Hawthorn Hawks. We had also eliminated the AFL's creation in the GWS Giants who were laden with talent galore and were supposedly guaranteed success.

We had swept all before us and all that stood between us and our second premiership were the Minor Premiers in the Sydney Swans who had the bulk of their 2012 Premiership core and were looking to resume building their dynasty.

An enthralling first half saw the Dogs just two points down but as the game went on we were gradually wearing down the battle-hardened Swans.

And then it happened.

The 99,981 people in attendance held their breath as Dale Morris brought down Lance Franklin and saw Tom Boyd swoop on the loose ball and roosted the ball from inside the centre square...

In years gone by it seemed the Footy Gods would eternally curse us and that the ball would bounce in any direction but where we hoped it would go... But 2016 was something filled with different magic and fortune smiled upon us instead

The ball went through the goals and the western suburbs would definitely erupt and let all their anguish and fears disappear in a moment where time seemed to stop. It was symbolic that the footballer who we had heavily sought out two seasons earlier would deliver us the Premiership we had craved for a generation.

Come the final siren it was the Dogs who were victorious by 22 points and many people burst out into tears and hugged random strangers. We had done the unthinkable and brought success to Melbourne's west for the first time since 1954.

We had put together the most glorious of finals campaigns so far and the dream simply couldn't end in heartbreaking fashion. Could it? It was a fate that many supporters were fearful of... the idea of false hope and dreams that were only a few hours from being realised and achieved.

The sudden realisation that we had finally got to see our team be crowned the best side of the season and now it wasn't just a dream anymore but reality. And nothing could change that.

You've only got one premiership... You're no chance you finished seventh... You can't win a premiership from outside the top four... Your club is lucky to still be around... They are a shit club...

These have been some of the remarks we have all heard before made about the club that we love and cherish in the mighty red, white and blue. These comments would cease to exist after what had unfolded that September.

As unbiased as the team at The Salty Bulldog can be, there will never be another premiership campaign like it and it will go down in V/AFL history as the greatest premiership ever won.

No arguments.

2) Grand Final, 1954, Melbourne Cricket Ground

Footscray 15.12.102 def Melbourne 7.9.51

62 years is a long, long time to wait for a Premiership, but as perfect as 2016 was, the 1954 Premiership was at least 78 years in the making, from when the first football matches involving a team referred to as "Footscray" were played in 1876. The team changed its name several times over the course of its early history, before changing its name from "The Prince Imperials" to "Footscray Football Club" from 1883 onwards.

The town of Footscray had always possessed a major focus on Australian Rules Football, and this was made quite clear during their dominance in the VFA in the early 1900s, winning a total of nine Premierships from 1898-1924, and finishing runners-up on another five occasions. Their admission into the VFL came off the back of defeating reigning VFL Premiers Essendon, in a State Championship match back in 1924.

The early years in the VFL were a struggle for Footscray, which, as we discussed yesterday saw the club lose several of its VFA stars in the league switch. Combined with failing to manage a win in its first six finals appearances, it looked for a time as though Footscray may never be able to break through.

But things started to change in the 1950s, as captain-coach Charlie Sutton started to assemble a highly-talented Footscray side across all lines, and from there, the club finally started to make the on-field breakthroughs that had long eluded them. In 1953, they finally win their first final. A year later, they were in the Grand Final for the first time in their history.

The match itself wasn't necessarily a memorable, close, hard-fought encounter like so many others on this list have been, although there are plenty of memorable moments and performances to marvel at. Like Jack Collins equaling the league-record of goals in a Grand Final with seven majors, while John Kerr dominated through the midfield in what was arguably a best-on-ground performance. Against a Melbourne side that contained stars such as Dennis Cordner and Ron Barassi, it left coach Norm Smith to lament that even a combined VFL side would have been no match for Footscray on the last day of the 1954 Season, as they doubled Melbourne's score.

But what this game did was establish itself as a landmark day for both club and for the suburb of Footscray. A momentous occasion that thousands of people had spent decades working towards. Given the lack of success that has since followed the club, Grand Final day in 1954 has remained the height of achievement for the Bulldogs, and has long been celebrated as one of the greatest day's in the club's history. When looking at the greatest win's in the club's history, its inevitable that this game features highly on such a list.

1) First Preliminary Final, 2016, Sydney Showgrounds

Greater Western Sydney 12.11.83 def by Western Bulldogs 13.11.89

Hands down not just the greatest win in Bulldogs history, but one of the best games of all time.

There aren't many games that are portrayed as a legitimate "good vs evil" encounter, but this was one of the rare exceptions.

On one hand you had the Western Bulldogs, starved for so long of tangible success. Having to toil away for decades, settling for less, being forced to offload its best players just to balance the books, and then being forced to watch the side struggled on-field year after year, and then, on those rare occasions where there was a talented group pieced together, watching it fall agonisingly short of the mark. Up until this game, the Bulldogs had played in nine Preliminary finals, and had lost eight of them.

The GWS Giants, meanwhile, were a new addition to the competition, and designed in such a manner that success was almost inevitable, rather than possible. Virtually unrestricted access to the top young talent in the competition for several seasons, the core group of the club looked primed to slide ahead of the queue within a few seasons, at the expense of a perennial battler for over 90 years. It felt like any neutrals were on the side of Melbourne's West, rather than Sydney's.

And then there were the on-field subplots. No less than three former Bulldogs players (Callan Ward, Ryan Griffen, and coach Leon Cameron) where representing the orange opposition, while former Giant Tom Boyd donned the tricolours. A rivalry filled with brawls, close finishes and constant off-field barbs were being slung both ways across the state border over the past couple of seasons, and it was all set to come to a head in a do-or-die, winner-takes-all showdown. It was set to the second-most watched non-Grand Final of all time, with 2.387m people tuning in to view along with the 21,790 already crammed into the packed Spotless Stadium, most of which were made up by the droves of travelling Bulldogs fans. Every ingredient that you could possibly ask for had been thrown into the mix for this one, and it needed was a good game to go with it.

And it didn't disappoint. This wasn't just a good game, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan labelled it "a game for the ages". It had everything. From the Bulldogs fast start, to the Giants response. Respective injuries to Ward and Jordan Roughead that threw a huge spanner into the works for both sides. There was the inspiration of Clay Smith, to kick four-first half goals in a dominant display. There was the subtle craft of Tory Dickson, to sneak his own bag of four. There was the Giants enterprise to twice build potential match-winning leads in the second half. There was the Bulldogs desperation to get the ball from one end to the other late in the third term for Caleb Daniel to bounce through a timely goal. There was Boyd's determination to ruck solo in the face of Shane Mumford, with Roughead out for the game. There was Bontempelli running into an open goal "to hit the front". There was Zaine Cordy's unlikely brace. There was Jackson Macrae ice cool set shot. And then there was the final three minutes, where everybody forgot to breathe, until the composure of Jake Stringer hit of Dickson inside-50, and euphoria ensued. As Dickson took his time and eventually came in to kick, the siren sounded. The curse was broken

This wasn't a game that delivered the Premiership that Bulldogs fans had long craved for, but it did so much more. It followed through on the hope that those same fans had spent decades clinging to, and gave Bulldogs fans the opportunity to revel in the opportunity to see their team on the big stage.

The 2016 Preliminary Final - the greatest game in Bulldogs history. Source: Getty Images