Best Ever Finals Win (in your lifetime)?

[bulldogtragic]

Bad form line. Horrible injuries. Two trips to Perth in three weeks. Odds had us at nearly $5 at the open. Loud crowd.

And kept them to bugger all goals. Huge spread of goal kickers. And... Huge win!!!!!!

[EasternWest]

Has to be. Only thing that comes close is 06 v Pies.

[lemmon]

Hard to split this one and 2006 against Collingwood. Absolute elation both times

[bulldogtragic]

Has to be. Only thing that comes close is 06 v Pies.

I'm with you. Every single thing was against us (except the bye) and pull off a smashing. Wow.

[ReLoad]

Has to be. Only thing that comes close is 06 v Pies.

This for sure. Both are close, but the Chardonnay poppers in Perth, hell yes !!!!

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Most definitely for me. I can't recall a Bulldogs finals scenario in my life ever where as solid a range of circumstances conspired against us leading up to and into it as this.
Absolutely epic for a whole range of reasons that we'll all no doubt write about.

[Sedat]

Best ever win in my 44 years on this earth. This is a special group of players.

[Mofra]

How?

Bonti & Stringer were held most of the night.
Half the team were on one leg.
We were a player down for more than half the game.
WCE were the form side of the competition playing where they'd never lost a final to a Vic team.

Just.... how?

[KT31]

Hard to split this one and 2006 against Collingwood. Absolute elation both times

Agreed.

[Eastdog]

In my time as a Doggies supporter in ranks right up there.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Best ever. Eveeeeeer.

[Sedat]

How?

Bonti & Stringer were held most of the night.
Half the team were on one leg.
We were a player down for more than half the game.
WCE were the form side of the competition playing where they'd never lost a final to a Vic team.

Just.... how?
West Coke thought they could simply turn up tonight and it will all happen for them. They hate being hunted - Collingwood terrorised them about 6 weeks ago at the MCG and we turned up the heat on them in a similar way tonight. Their frontrunners like Le Cras, Darling, Hill absolutely shat themselves time and time again.

[bornadog]

How?

Bonti & Stringer were held most of the night.
Half the team were on one leg.
We were a player down for more than half the game.
WCE were the form side of the competition playing where they'd never lost a final to a Vic team.

Just.... how?

I have been saying that all year and we just kept winning

[angelopetraglia]

Seen seven losing prelims. Best finals win in my lifetime. Collingwood in 2006 was enormous and being at the ground as a 10 year old in the 1985 1st Semi was also pretty special. But this tops it. First interstate finals win. Massive underdogs. Huge.

[G-Mo77]

06 against Pies wins because i was there and it was my first ever final.

[Remi Moses]

Seen 8 finals wins in 48 years . This was the best

[KT31]

North in 85 was special because it was my first final, but after some thought I have this one just edging out Collingwood 2006.

[Mantis]

That was *!*!*!*!ing brilliant.

Repeat performance next week boys.

[1eyedog]

This is the best win I've ever seen. The booing parochial crowd will be the soundtrack of my life. I'll get them to play it at my funeral. The empty seats at the 8 minute mark of the last quarter was the cream on the best holiday ever!

[LostDoggy]

Best ever for me. Our coach is a mastermind, this is a special group.

[Flamethrower]

Definitely best ever finals win (up until now) - that may be blown out of the water over the next 3 weeks.

My 2nd favourite though was our dismantling of Sydney in the Qualifying Final in 1997. That 1st quarter was mind blowing.
Collingwood in 2006 and St Kilda in 1992 are my next faves.

[merantau]

Best finals win for mine - better than Prelim Final win of '61 over Melbourne as they were stuffed having run up against Hawthorn the week before.
No, WC were the in-form team of the competion and on their own dung heap we hunted them with a fierce intensity that they could not deal with. How wonderful to deflate their balloon, rain on their parade and snuff out their dream of another flag. And make no mistake: they were all thinking, 'This is our year'. Not sorry. You were wrong. Game over, season over, that's it finished. All done. No more for you. You had your chance. You weren't good enough. Get a new coach - he's a dud - and start a re-build.

[LostDoggy]

When you factor in the form of the opposition leading in this was the best ever.

Just complete domination. Didn't give them a sniff at all.

[Twodogs]

Best finals win for mine - better than Prelim Final win of '61 over Melbourne as they were stuffed having run up against Hawthorn the week before.
No, WC were the in-form team of the competion and on their own dung heap we hunted them with a fierce intensity that they could not deal with. How wonderful to deflate their balloon, rain on their parade and snuff out their dream of another flag. And make no mistake: they were all thinking, 'This is our year'. Not sorry. You were wrong. Game over, season over, that's it finished. All done. No more for you. You had your chance. You weren't good enough. Get a new coach - he's a dud - and start a re-build.

I'm glad you mentioned Adam Simpson. He was hanging his head halfway through the second quarter. Not bowing his head to give it a quick shake in reaction to a piece of stupid play. Genuine head hanging forward like he'd been deflated He was out of ideas already.

Might be a North Melbourne thing I guess. I'm surprised they didn't go tge knuckle as a last resort.

[Twodogs]

Oh yeah. Best win in finals, home and away, practice matches, NAB cup games, Panasonic cup, Army reserve cup, centenary lightning premiership (actually I don't think we won any of them so they technically probably don't count) best win ever.

[SonofScray]

Pies was immense on the back of onto's famous performance. Tonight has to be right up there in any all time finals win list.

Keep going 'lickers, they'll make a Disney film out of this.

[Happy Days]

Best finals win in my lifetime doesn't really cover a lot of ground, but Van Damme that was amazing.

[Go_Dogs]

Best by a fair margin. Will be topped next week though....

[Ghost Dog]

Very happy for Matt Boyd, Liam, Dale Morris, the older brigade. I'd say it was the best finals win for them.
By sheer nature of the parochial WA crowd, and our loss against Freo, pure betting odds, it would be the best I have been around for.

[Jeanette54]

The best performance I ever saw was a losing prelim against Hawthorn, under Mick Malthouse. We were terrific that day, until Lee Matthews (virtually kickless until 3/4 time) got off the chain in the final 15 minutes and broke our hearts. Best win ever win was against Collingwood in 2006, but I had to watch that by video feed while working in China at the time.

It was also when I found out that Brocky had died in WA, probably died of shame, as he was a big Magpie fan. No doubt he was a regular on the "6.15 express from Montmorency". This year sees the tenth anniversary of both. RIP Peter.

[comrade]

This team would destroy the 2006 version.

[Mantis]

You don't go to Perth and win by 8 goals against a good team.. Well you do. ;)

That was a brilliant performance from a team still very much finding its feet.

[1eyedog]

This team would destroy the 2006 version.

This team will destroy either Geelong or Hawthorn next week and Macrae and Libba will be better for the run.

[ratsmac]

This one was the best for me. Better than Collingwood '06, better than Sydney '97 (that was special because we were rubbish 12 months earlier), better than North Melbourne '85 (my first final win and Beaser kicked his ton). This was our first interstate final win, we won in Perth, all the circumstances with injuries and bringing in underdone players, no one gave them a chance in hell, just everything about it makes it so special.

[S Coast Simon]

Loved every minute of that win. Best I have seen against all odds. When I seen Simpson drop his head in the second I thought hang on he is out of ideas already this could be good. My Canadien wife asked before the game how are they going to go tonight and I said these kids have big hearts anything could happen. The boys were ferocious back to the men of mayhem

[The bulldog tragician]

Nothing compares to this. 2006 was enormous fun. We were on the rise.playing carefree footy, excited to be at the G, elated to be there.

So few teams win an away final. So few win in Perth, full stop. We were written off, seemingly shot by injury. I still can't believet the lethargic error riddled performance v Freo could be turned around so brilliantly. I'm in awe of this group and our brilliant coach. Anything is possible with their belief and commitment to each other.

[Ozza]

That was the best win.

The '85 1st Semi would have been special - as it was our first finals win since 1961.
06' obviously exciting - but possibly not against a really top notch opponent.

To go over there, all the circumstances, against the previous years grand finalist who had just knocked off 4th (away), the premiers (home) and a very good Adelaide side away...all the injuries and such a young, passionate, team - and to win in the fashion that we did. It will be hard to quantify what that sort of win does for a group - but it has to be big. Their belief just grows.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

You don't go to Perth and win by 8 goals against a good team.. Well you do. ;)

That was a brilliant performance from a team still very much finding its feet.

This might be the performance that redefines our club.

We're capable of anything now, and we're certainly capable of the ultimate in the future.

[Sedat]

2006 was against the filth in front of 85k - it was a different kind of satisfaction to last night but geez it was glorious fun.

Last night was a win of deep significance - I was jacked off that we let the 2015 EF slip but last night told us that the players were equally as jacked off and learned many valuable lessons that night, that they got to put into practice the first opportunity they had. Last night we were everything we haven't been in September - clinical, manic, skilful under extreme pressure, ruthless. I enjoyed it, a lot.

[Bulldog4life]

Having been to the 1961 GF as a kid and all other finals in Melbourne since I would rank this win as the very best final win that I have seen. I said it before the game that it would be the case and I even feel more strongly about that now.

[mjp]

Bad form line. Horrible injuries. Two trips to Perth in three weeks. Odds had us at nearly $5 at the open. Loud crowd.

And kept them to bugger all goals. Huge spread of goal kickers. And... Huge win!!!!!!

...and opposition fans screaming abuse at the umpires. And getting into fights amongst themselves. And the lovely lady from Maryborough who I was sitting next to yelling 'Moron, Moron, Moron' repeatedly into the ear of a 20-something hipster looking dude who had accused her of swearing earlier in the night as said hipster looking dude tried to depart the scene before the final siren...

[westdog54]

I went to both the 97 and 98 QFs and they were both extraordinary.

06 against Collingwood was something out of the top shelf.

But last night... there's just never been anything like it.

Everyone else has already talked about the form lines, injuries and all the rest, but two things stood out for me:

1) I knew we were going to win at 3qt. And what gave it away was the crowd. They were silent. Flat as a track. Didn't even boo. Just sat there in disbelief. As soon as that siren came and went with no reaction I knew the contest was over.

2) Jack Darling's efforts summed up their night beautifully. First he plays on inexplicably 20 out dead in front and gets wrapped up, then he hears footsteps running back with the flight in the last. Our decision making and desire for the contest were so far beyond theirs that there was only ever going to be one result.

On the way to work now. Everyone knows how much I love the Dogs.

Can't wait.

[I'm Not Bitter Anymore!]

1992 v St Kilda at Waverley was pretty good too

[whythelongface]

How?

Bonti & Stringer were held most of the night.
Half the team were on one leg.
We were a player down for more than half the game.
WCE were the form side of the competition playing where they'd never lost a final to a Vic team.

Just.... how?

It is hard to fathom when you take all that into consideration. We are one gutsy team but we also have a team that is silky skilled (most of the time)

[Ozza]

I went to both the 97 and 98 QFs and they were both extraordinary.

06 against Collingwood was something out of the top shelf.

But last night... there's just never been anything like it.

Everyone else has already talked about the form lines, injuries and all the rest, but two things stood out for me:

1) I knew we were going to win at 3qt. And what gave it away was the crowd. They were silent. Flat as a track. Didn't even boo. Just sat there in disbelief. As soon as that siren came and went with no reaction I knew the contest was over.

2) Jack Darling's efforts summed up their night beautifully. First he plays on inexplicably 20 out dead in front and gets wrapped up, then he hears footsteps running back with the flight in the last. Our decision making and desire for the contest were so far beyond theirs that there was only ever going to be one result.

On the way to work now. Everyone knows how much I love the Dogs.

Can't wait.

I like your post - and in the same vain, I wanted to highlight a couple of other big moments.

1) Early in the game, we narrowly missed three shots on goal, then two bad turnovers for goals and we are 12-3 down. Dominated play for no reward. Sound familiar. It had the hallmarks of what we have lived through too many times before, and would not have been surprising to see the Eagles take the momentum and to see the confidence drain out of our boys. But we not only responded, we put on the next 7 goals, and actually dominated the play even more so. It jolts me off-balance to think of the steely nerve of the group - as others said, this group is different, and special.

2) 7 minutes to go in the third quarter, I will have to revisit the game to see how far we were up - but we may have been around 24-26 points up. We were under siege with repeat entries from West Coast. I said to those I was watching with, that I would cop having no goals either way for the last 7 minutes, and that we needed to just hold together like we did against Port Adelaide in (I think) the second quarter of that game. Not only did the defence hold together, but we managed to kick two incredible goals to go further ahead. When Biggs spoiled that WCE centering kick, and Caleb gathered and dodged in the same motion - the words "This is THE moment!" came out of my mouth involuntarily...and then Dunkley - who looked a moral to bugger things up when he sort of played on, sort of stopped - kicked truly - the game was probably over. Then Roughy sealed it. You knew we were on fire when Roughy is marking, turning and firing a goal from 50 on the run.

[Ozza]

double post

[The Pie Man]

I really enjoyed the win over Sydney in the 2010 semi - coming back from 5 goals down in the 2nd quarter with a seriously undermanned team was brilliant.

For what this group has been through and the task at hand last night - yeah, it's probably the best finals performance I've seen.

The 97 QF was pretty sweet as well - though Romero's injury dampened that somewhat.

[merantau]

This thread has been a great read. Thanks to all who've shared their memories.

[Twodogs]

I like your post - and in the same vain, I wanted to highlight a couple of other big moments.

1) Early in the game, we narrowly missed three shots on goal, then two bad turnovers for goals and we are 12-3 down. Dominated play for no reward. Sound familiar. It had the hallmarks of what we have lived through too many times before, and would not have been surprising to see the Eagles take the momentum and to see the confidence drain out of our boys. But we not only responded, we put on the next 7 goals, and actually dominated the play even more so. It jolts me off-balance to think of the steely nerve of the group - as others said, this group is different, and special.

2) 7 minutes to go in the third quarter, I will have to revisit the game to see how far we were up - but we may have been around 24-26 points up. We were under siege with repeat entries from West Coast. I said to those I was watching with, that I would cop having no goals either way for the last 7 minutes, and that we needed to just hold together like we did against Port Adelaide in (I think) the second quarter of that game. Not only did the defence hold together, but we managed to kick two incredible goals to go further ahead. When Biggs spoiled that WCE centering kick, and Caleb gathered and dodged in the same motion - the words "This is THE moment!" came out of my mouth involuntarily...and then Dunkley - who looked a moral to bugger things up when he sort of played on, sort of stopped - kicked truly - the game was probably over. Then Roughy sealed it. You knew we were on fire when Roughy is marking, turning and firing a goal from 50 on the run.

The difference between Darling taking a couple of steps and being called and getting run down and Dunkley doing the same but kicking the goal summed up the difference between the teams I thought. As soon as Darling looked like he was going to take a step our blokes were all over him like a cheap suit when Dunkley did the West Coast player wasn't interested in making body contact at all, he more or less stood there and let Dunkley walk around him.

[The bulldog tragician]

The difference between Darling taking a couple of steps and being called and getting run down and Dunkley doing the same but kicking the goal summed up the difference between the teams I thought. As soon as Darling looked like he was going to take a step our blokes were all over him like a cheap suit when Dunkley did the West Coast player wasn't interested in making body contact at all, he more or less stood there and let Dunkley walk around him.

I still think it was miraculous that the umpire called play on. Rightly so, but it was pretty gutsy to do so in front of those baying morons. In plenty of other matches over there we could have copped a 50 metre penalty!

[Twodogs]

I still think it was miraculous that the umpire called play on. Rightly so, but it was pretty gutsy to do so in front of those baying morons. In plenty of other matches over there we could have copped a 50 metre penalty!


Suckling was looking at the umpire in disbelief even as he dragged Darling to the ground. You could just see the umpire in the bottom of the screen waving play on.

[bulldogtragic]

Suckling was looking at the umpire in disbelief even as he dragged Darling to the ground. You could just see the umpire in the bottom of the screen waving play on.

Suckling has a had a few poor games in between injuries, but he was switched on 100% in that moment and saved a certain goal. That was his moment and he took. Roughy took his too kicking one on the run. Stringer's goal in the last. Picko & Daniel with multiple moments taken. It was so good to see so many players seize their moment.

[westdog54]

I like your post - and in the same vain, I wanted to highlight a couple of other big moments.

1) Early in the game, we narrowly missed three shots on goal, then two bad turnovers for goals and we are 12-3 down. Dominated play for no reward. Sound familiar. It had the hallmarks of what we have lived through too many times before, and would not have been surprising to see the Eagles take the momentum and to see the confidence drain out of our boys. But we not only responded, we put on the next 7 goals, and actually dominated the play even more so. It jolts me off-balance to think of the steely nerve of the group - as others said, this group is different, and special.

2) 7 minutes to go in the third quarter, I will have to revisit the game to see how far we were up - but we may have been around 24-26 points up. We were under siege with repeat entries from West Coast. I said to those I was watching with, that I would cop having no goals either way for the last 7 minutes, and that we needed to just hold together like we did against Port Adelaide in (I think) the second quarter of that game. Not only did the defence hold together, but we managed to kick two incredible goals to go further ahead. When Biggs spoiled that WCE centering kick, and Caleb gathered and dodged in the same motion - the words "This is THE moment!" came out of my mouth involuntarily...and then Dunkley - who looked a moral to bugger things up when he sort of played on, sort of stopped - kicked truly - the game was probably over. Then Roughy sealed it. You knew we were on fire when Roughy is marking, turning and firing a goal from 50 on the run.

I could watch the celebration of Roughy's goal all day.

It really was a joyful moment.

As for Dunkley's goal, it was just so heartwarming to watch us burn a team on the rebound frrom a turnover, rather than have it done to us. I was part relieved, part elated when it went through.

[westdog54]

Suckling was looking at the umpire in disbelief even as he dragged Darling to the ground. You could just see the umpire in the bottom of the screen waving play on.

The commentators actually said "He can't say he didn't hear the umpire, he was right there".

He'd been calling 'play on' for a good two seconds before Suckling wrapped him up.

[jeemak]

Suckling was looking at the umpire in disbelief even as he dragged Darling to the ground. You could just see the umpire in the bottom of the screen waving play on.


Suckling has a had a few poor games in between injuries, but he was switched on 100% in that moment and saved a certain goal. That was his moment and he took. Roughy took his too kicking one on the run. Stringer's goal in the last. Picko & Daniel with multiple moments taken. It was so good to see so many players seize their moment.


The commentators actually said "He can't say he didn't hear the umpire, he was right there".

He'd been calling 'play on' for a good two seconds before Suckling wrapped him up.

It was a great contrast to the Tom Hawkins/Easton Wood one at Simmonds this year, I nearly smashed my TV over that.

[jeemak]

I was thinking today "that's what it feels like to be a winner", it's the type of feeling only a convincing, strong and high profile win can bring to a football supporter. No other final has ever made me feel like that, aside from maybe the 1997 win against the Swans.

Hopefully I'm not brought back down to earth as rapidly as I was in 1997!

[Twodogs]

I really liked the 1985 semi win against North. It was against North. A win against the cow *!*!*!*!ers in a final is gold. But this one is a beauty full of highlights, great marks, goals and Doug Hawkins at his sublime best. We even got to run out on the ground during the game when Beasley kicked his 100th for the season. Lally Bamblett also steered his 50tg of the season.

Best finals win I've seen. It felt like we'd arrived

But last night was better. The '85 team was good but at a different point in their development than this group. They were a seasoned group of players mostly in their prime.

This is a young group and last night will fast track their development.

[boydogs]

There were some good SF wins in 2008-10 but nothing interstate

The first interstate finals win in the history of the club, can't go past that

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Best finals win ever and Roughead's play on goal even better than Steve Kolynuik's.

[Twodogs]

Best finals win ever and Roughead's play on goal even better than Steve Kolynuik's.

Thinking about it they were from similar spots on the ground and my heart leapt into my mouth for a nanosecond in exactly the same way when I first realised they were playing on.

[westdog54]

I think we have a new clubhouse leader.

[Twodogs]

Where has this team been all my life?

[bulldogtragic]

Hopefully there's a new one this year. And maybe a few more.

[Ozza]

Hard to separate the three.

Huge, significant wins for different reasons.

Eagles - last years Grand Finalist, hardest road trip, given no chance - first interstate finals win.
Hawks - 3 peat premiers, ended the dynasty, did it on the G in front of nearly 88,000, biggest crowd we've won in front of - big MCG final vs a top 4 team.
Giants - prelim, interstate, top 4 team.

Its amazing to think of the context of the Eagles win now...seems like ages ago.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Hard to separate the three.

Huge, significant wins for different reasons.

Eagles - last years Grand Finalist, hardest road trip, given no chance - first interstate finals win.
Hawks - 3 peat premiers, ended the dynasty, did it on the G in front of nearly 88,000, biggest crowd we've won in front of - big MCG final vs a top 4 team.
Giants - prelim, interstate, top 4 team.

Its amazing to think of the context of the Eagles win now...seems like ages ago.

In 2 weeks we went from thinking mostly we would be out in week 1 pretty convincingly to playing in a grand final. Just amazing

[Greystache]

In order:

.....

Week 3 PF 2016- vs GWS

Week 2 SF 2016- vs Hawthorn

Week 1 EF 2016- vs WCE

Week 1 EF 2006- vs Collingwood

Week 1 QF 1997- vs Sydney

I've left space for a new one to be added to the top this weekend :D

[Mofra]

Week 2 SF 20016 vs Hawks was the best I've been to live.

Week 1 EF vs WCE was the most surprising (and we were at the longest odds).

Week 3 PF vs GWS was crazy simply because we seemed to be on the back foot so many times during the game and it wasn't until Stringer's pass to Dickson anyone felt like we had it.

[comrade]

SF16 was the most enjoyable game to watch live, was a Bulldogs party from about 5 mins before 3q time.

PF16 was one of the most stressful and tense 2 and half hours of my life. Half way through the last quarter I tapped out and just stood in a daze. The aftermath was the best ever though.

[hujsh]

If we win the grand final there needs to be A DVD with all 4 matches.

Commentary from Bevo, Gordon and Murph as well please.

[Ozza]

If we win the grand final there needs to be A DVD with all 4 matches.

Commentary from Bevo, Gordon and Murph as well please.

Absolutely.

The previous grand final dvd's, from what I've seen - give you options of CH7, Triple M, SEN - and maybe one other - commentary.
Would be get to get all finals, with all ranges of commentary!

So you can watch all of the games 4 or 5 times!

[cinder]

I have them all ripped off Foxtel in HD if anyone wants copies ...

[hujsh]

I have them all ripped off Foxtel in HD if anyone wants copies ...

https://countryliving4beginners.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/hand_raising.jpg

[cinder]

Haha. I thought I'd wait til WE WIN on Sat & start a thread about it :)

[LostDoggy]

I have them all ripped off Foxtel in HD if anyone wants copies ...

Um Yes Please ;)

[LostDoggy]

I have them all ripped off Foxtel in HD if anyone wants copies ...

Um Yes Please ;)

[EasternWest]

I have them all ripped off Foxtel in HD if anyone wants copies ...

Count me in. After the weekend, make it 4.

[AndrewP6]

PF vs AFL Giants 2016.
SF vs Dawks 2016
EF vs Wet Toast 2016.

Hope I can revise this post in a few days.

[1eyedog]

I have them all ripped off Foxtel in HD if anyone wants copies ...

Good idea. Thanks .

[hujsh]

I have them all ripped off Foxtel in HD if anyone wants copies ...

Well looks like we're not getting the DVD with all 4. Cinder I think you're going to be very popular.

[Twodogs]

That was the best finals win I've seen.

[EasternWest]

That was the best finals win I've seen.

It was ok I guess.

[bulldogtragic]

I'd say the WCE win was best for me. Then the Hawthorn win was a new best for me. Then the GWS win was a new best for me. Then the premiership win was a new best for me.

My four best finals win in one series, one after the other. Talk about being completely spoilt.

[Sedat]

West Coke win was belief-stirring
Hawthorn win was baton-changing
GWS win was gut-wrenching
Swans win was history-making