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Competitiveness. They have created a culture where they are expected to compete. We have seen 2 prelims won by teams that were just more hungry to win. I believe the Dogs have a lot of positional weaknesses but they make up for it with unrelenting effort. We will make a meaningful move up the ladder when the expectation of competitiveness at the MFC matches that of the current Dogs squad. Not just on the days when the ball is bouncing our way and thing are falling into place for us, but on the days where it's not.

I'm no Boyd fan but I thought he was immense tonight. When Roughead went down GWS could have dominated through Mumford. Boyd just stuck at it and at it and at it Man that last quarter was intense. I'm not sure I breathed for the last couple of minutes

Gotta love the Doggies. Personally I think we've got a long way to go to matching them. Sure they didn't win every week in 2016 but one thing they did give every week was 100% effort. No way this mob would have dropped games against Essendon, Carlton the way we did. They are a credit to themselves. We have a lot to learn from them.

Sydney have been the best team all year and Geelong have been carried all year by Dangerfield.

Love this pic - brothers in arms.

Like him or not tom Boyd showed huge heart tonight after roughead went off

Tom Mitchell and Tyrone Vickery for Jesse Hogan? Is that a sick joke?!

I don't think I'm alone with my feelings in this circumstance. Bob is just a wonderful football person.

Doggies supporters have done it much harder than us in the last fifty years. We know what their pain feels like and also what they would be feeling now. Wouldn't think very many MFC supporters would be unhappy with the result. The AFL's first round pick test tube babies can suffer some pain before their multiple flags. I think Scully adds greatly to many MFC supporters dislike of them. Go Doggies!!!

Very well done Footscray, longer premiership drought than our own and yes I teared up.

The Dogs are just epitomised by one united attitude: they never, ever give up. Our team needs to learn a thing or two from the attitude of their players, instead of picking and choosing when to turn up. No other team's supporters would feel as proud as Dogs supporters right now.

Fantastic result! 7th spot to a GF. You've got to be happy for their supporters.

Football club defeats franchise.

Thank you footy Gods

The fact he is contracted means we will need to cough something up to get him, and I really don't see him as an upgrade on anything we currently have. With the impending trade for Hibberd, and the return of Melksham, it will release others like Hunt and Salem to play on those wings with someone like Billy Stretch. I don't see a need for him at all.

Hey Flamingdees, Welcome to the thread. What are your thoughts on Jesse's situation? I'm not sure I've seen you post on the topic yet.

So pleased that the 2 teams that stay in the hunt by cherry picking players from other clubs i.e. Hawks and Cats have failed to reach the G.F. Sydney went down that path with franklin and Tippet and although still there they have introduced 7 new players this year and have made a GF. Gives me hope for our group if we can keep them together. Already I see that Hawks and Cats are looking to load up again next year. Why don't they just take their medicine and go and develop some players

Selwood 39, Dangerfield 39. Next most were Bartel and Enright on 26 - two veterans close to retirement. Geelong is nowhere near where they think they are. I'm not sure a team has ever been as reliant on two players as Geelong of 2016.

As long as they don't wheel out Les Twentyman I'm on the dogs all the way

The best thing since ice!

Not only the result we all wanted, but a cracking game of football as well. That was some seriously good stuff. I've got Dogs-supporting mates who are crying with happiness. I can't wait until that is us.

Congratulations Bulldogs. Perfect example of a team that has rightfully earned their right to play in the Grand Final. Inspiring to watch.

[censored] off GW$ earn ya history

I'm seeing a number of posts along the lines that Jesse is under no obligation to either sign or signal his intentions until his contract has concluded next year. This is perfectly true. Likewise, if I came across a person horribly injured in the street I am under no obligation to provide assistance or even call for help. My point of course is that just because we are within our rights to do something does not mean that we should, or that is the right thing to do. Hogan is well aware of the importance his decision has to the club in planning their trades and drafting strategies. While he is indeed well within his rights to wait, the right thing to do, the act of integrity, is to give his club the information they need as quickly as possible.

Hardly sighted 2016 season, 0 contested possessions, 0 intercept marks, 0 metres gained, needs to lift.

Why do you always think the worst?

Brayshaw's one of our untouchables. He's the future of the club.

Those scenes after the game were amazing. I was happy for the Dogs and their supporters, empathized with the conflicted feelings of Bob Murphy but my overwhelming emotions were a mixture of jealousy and hope. Our time is coming.

Ha read on twitter Spotless ran out of beer at 1/2 time. Obviously not used to catering for big crowds. well what a final. It was fantastic. 2 years ago the club was at an all time low. Captain going new coach and Bevo has just come in and created a great team environment. Geez how good is the Bont to watch. Took a good mark in the final quarter and also kicked a very important goal. Those dogs just never gave up. Im happy for there fans who havent seen them play a gf for sooo long. Happy for players like Smith who has had 3 or 4 knee recos and we saw the interview, lost his best mate last monday. But shattered for Murphy. Just the heart and soul and misses a chance to play in the big one. Any go dogs for next week. I will be barracking hard for you, and im sure it will set up a good atmosphere at the VFL grand final tomorrow. Dogs fans will be on a high. Wonder if Heath Shaw has stopped screaming at his teammates yet? Also Jeremy Cameron were you out there?

I hate the way GWS have 'Thugged' their way. It reeks of old school Sheedy thuggery and concomitant atrocities and I'm proud that the Dogs withstood it and won. Get Thugged, Mumford and co, you are a bunch of troglodyte morons.

Oh, and Lachie Whitfield is proof that GWS don't have a no d*ckheads policy.

Club with unbelievable heart defeats synthetic roboclub.

Hope you feel like crap right now, $cully.

Great result

Watching Whitfield out there just reminds us all how corrupt are the AFL. Disgraceful.

I'd settle for the players just turning up each week ready to play.

but 0 clangers, 0 frees-against and wasn't once beaten by any opponent

In the 6 flags we won from '55 to '64 we had 2 weeks off during the finals 5 times. The odd year out was 1957. The Swans had an off day against GWS 2 weeks ago whilst the Cats weren't all that impressive against the Hawks in their qualifying final. The time off is an advantage if a coach knows how to utilise the time off. Not sure whether Chris Scott is a top-line coach/manager ... his players weren't switched on in the first quarter and he has to take a lot of the blame for that - to get blown away the way they did was unacceptable. Regardless, the Cats are far too reliant on too few where as the Swans play total football. Sydney are going to be hard to beat for the premiership if they play like they did last night.

Good to see the umpires more resistant to the patented Selwood brothers ducking technique.

Enright and Bartel are 2 champions who are also quality people. Deserve all the accolades they get.

Hold on just a cotton Picken minute. Don't blame teachers because this goose can't spill properly. We're doing our best!!!

What an insightful post. Something might happen. But it probably won't. But it could. Thanks.

Geelong went in underdone: Rnd 22 - Easily beat Brisbane, Rnd 23 - Easily beat Demons Bye First Final - just beat an average Hawks Bye Prelim - totally outplayed by Sydney. Hardly any match practice, match fitness for 6-7 weeks. On top of that they didn't have enough players who wanted it badly enough.

A take from me at the right price 3rd roundish, really improved by adding the goal kicking ruckman to his game after being shellshocked when not drafted first time around. Started to knuckle down mid 2015 and had a very strong year until getting injured late. Has potential to be a Rory Lobb type. Meth Coast are very keen on him

Game proved yet again, if more proof were needed, that by far the least efficient way to kick a winning score is to kick it high into the forward line to a contest. Especially against a competent defence.

Must be strange to be in Chunk's position, knowing your younger brother is playing in a Grand Final in his 3rd year of football. I'm sure he's proud as anything though.

Great to see Zak Jones play himself in to a Grand Final. Excellent game.

You'll be locked into the loony bin pal.

I suspect some have lost sight of what we’ve got here in Hogan. Particularly those with goldfish memories. The kid is a gun, any way you look at it I hate using stats but some find them illuminating so I’ll run a few comparisons based on Hogan’s first two seasons. Including his crappy back third to 2016 Wayne Carey could play a bit. I’ll give him a bit of a leg up and ignore his first year & compare his second and third seasons to Hogan’s first 2. Carey played 35 games in that period. Hogan 41. On average Hogan matches him for kicks (9.4). Hogan leads in marks (6.9 – 5.2), handballs (4.6 – 4.3), goals (2.1 – 1.9) and tackles (1.3 – 0.8) Jono Brown went alright too. I’ll do him the same favour, giving him his first season as a warm-up and compare his second & third to Hogan’s career to date. Brown played 44 games in that period. Hogan has him covered in average kicks, marks, goals and tackles. In those 44 games JB took 64 contested marks to Hogan’s 90. It was mentioned that Hogan isn’t “feared” like Brown was. I don’t think Brown was especially feared when he was 20. Now some may argue that today’s game is a higher possession game than in Carey & Brown’s eras and they’d be right. I’d also argue that the explosion in possessions has come in the midfield and chipping across & backwards from half-back. Not the forward line TGR mentioned Jarryd Roughead, a more recent example. Again I’ll give a free pass to Roughead for his first season and compare his second and third where he played mainly forward. He played 42 games in this period On average, Hogan leads him in kicks (9.4 – 6.4), marks (6.9 – 4.4), goals (2.1 – 1.2). Their average handballs are equal and Roughy leads the tackle average by 0.1 per game. In that period Roughy took 33 contested marks to Hogan’s 90 I’ve used the second & third seasons for these blokes to counter the argument that Hogan had been in the system for 2 years before debut and was older. If you compare their first two seasons with Hogan, he streets them. Streets them. Gold Coast’s Tom Lynch is a gun. A future champion in my view. But it took him until his fourth season to match what Hogan did in his first. A season where GC won 10 games so they were hardly spudding it up. Hogan has flaws no doubt but they are fixable in my view. He gets belted for his goalkicking accuracy but no-one complained last year when he had a conversion rate a shade below 70%. Until Round 17 this year he was tracking at 63%. Not too shabby. The wheels fell off in his last six games where he kicked 3 goals 11, dragging his season conversion rate down to 55%. To my eye his field kicking fell away in his last six games as well which suggests to me that something was amiss. Whether it be physical, mental or confidence – who knows but there was a definite decline from the earlier part of the season. Body language – yeah, sometimes not great. But so what – the goal kicking record holder at the MCG had some of the worst body language of all time. Hogan has been described by coaches & team mates as “a competitive beast”. To me it’s obvious that he has high demands of himself and gets disappointed when he fails to deliver. And sometimes he shows it. He’s 20 years old. Stats can only tell you so much. If there are posters can’t see how much ground he can cover, how agile he is, how good his decision making is in general play then short of inundating the site with YouTube clips I’m not sure how to demonstrate it. And he has got a leap as evidenced by that (albeit unsuccessful) hanger he went for towards the end of the season. He flew. Why he doesn’t use it more often I don’t know The kid is 20 years old. He has lots to learn but is already good and could well be great. Great – capital G. And he plays for us. There are posters suggesting we should cut any potential losses and trade him now. The type that can’t see the forest for the draft picks. My view is that we should be moving heaven and earth to keep him. If that means making allowances for his current personal circumstances then so be it. But holding a gun to his head and demanding his signature is dumb. Some suggest we’ll be fine without him. I’m more of the opinion that if we lose him it will haunt us like no other loss since Barassi.