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Why the Bulldogs won’t get near Sydney on Saturday

The dejected Dogs leave Etihad Stadium after a loss.

The dejected Dogs leave Etihad Stadium after a loss. Photo: Getty

ANALYSIS

It feels as though the Western Bulldogs are an accident waiting to happen in Saturday’s grand final showdown against Sydney.

They’ve been up for four weeks, have had two tough road trips, knocked off the three-time defending premiers and won the heart of every non-New South Wales AFL fan in the country.

The danger is that, in doing so, they’ve shot their bolt.

The nagging feeling is that, after seven successive preliminary final defeats, making the grand final is what it was all about for the Dogs. 

Captain Rob Murphy set the tone with a tweet on Sunday morning.

Sure, the AFL grand final is colloquially referred to as ‘the big dance’.

But it sounds like Murphy thinks making the grand final is cause for celebration – and it should be, for about an hour after the game. 

Then it’s time to start shutting out all distractions and preparing yourself to play the biggest game of your career. 

Because there are no tomorrows. 

At every big dance, there’s a drunk bloke going home on his own with no shirt or shoes.

The Bulldogs have a young side, but that’s no guarantee they’ll be able to make grand finals consistently.

As West Coast found out after being thumped in last year’s decider, in this competition, sides can move past you very quickly.

sydney grand final

A bit off on grand final day? You’ll get smashed. Just ask the Eagles. Photo: Getty

The Dogs need to make hay while the sun shines. 

This is where Luke Beveridge and his team, like Joel Corey, Steven King and VFL coach Ash Hansen – men who’ve tasted premiership success with other clubs – need to be working overtime to ensure the players realise that making a grand final isn’t enough.

Matt Suckling, if he’s not too busy racing the clock trying to prove his fitness for the big game, needs to make his voice heard. 

He’s the only one of the current Dogs playing group who’s been a part of grand final week.

The gulf in finals, and grand final, experience between the two sides is stark. 

Sydney could have about a dozen players who have been there on footy’s biggest day, the Dogs just one.

In the past five weeks the Bulldogs have endured two trips to Perth and a flight to Sydney. 

In the same period, Sydney have travelled just once – to Melbourne for their preliminary final win over Geelong.

Sydney’s canter over the Cats didn’t have anywhere near the same intensity as the Dogs’ pulsating win over GWS a day later. 

sydney grand final

The Swans were rarely troubled in their preliminary final win over Geelong. Photo: Getty

That match took the breath away, and the emotional release after the final siren from everyone connected with the Dogs was immense.

The sight of Murphy in tears as he thanked the Bulldog supporters, or Tony Liberatore being enveloped in a hug by his son Tom in the rooms after the game, will live long in the memory.

In fact, to think of a more emotional preliminary final win, you’ve probably got to go back 20 years and Tony Lockett’s point after the siren to end the Swans’ 51-year grand final drought to find one that compares. 

But with big emotional releases, there is inevitably a come down. 

History shows the Swans were beaten fairly comfortably by North Melbourne in the ensuing grand final, and the big fear here is that the Dogs turn in a similar showing on Saturday.

The Bulldogs have only been really towelled up once this season, against Geelong in Round 13. 

But the wave they’ve been riding has got to break at some point. 

And, if they are not careful, it will come crashing down around them on Saturday.

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