It may not have been an official final, but with a spot in September on the line, Sunday’s 34-point victory against Adelaide at Mars Stadium would have provided much comfort to Bulldogs fans still haunted by the Club’s three previous finals losses to the Crows.

The image of a dejected Chris Grant kneeling on the MCG turf after the Club’s heartbreaking 1997 preliminary final loss to a Darren Jarman-inspired Adelaide side has lived long in the memory of Bulldogs supporters. The Crows overcame a 25-point deficit early in the final term off the back of Jarman’s three-goal heroics and a wayward Bulldogs outfit that failed to kick a last quarter for the first time all season.

The Bulldogs managed only six straight behinds to lose the match by two points in what was described as “devastating and heart breaking capitulation”. Many still claim Tony Liberatore’s narrow “miss” early in the final quarter was indeed a goal that if adjudicated correctly would have seen the Club waltz into its first Grand Final since 1961.

Having finished in second position the following year and trouncing West Coast in the Qualifying Final at the MCG by 70 pints, the Bulldogs again faced Adelaide in the Preliminary Final only to be swept aside by the eventual Premier to the tune of 68 points.

In coach Luke Beveridge’s first year at the helm, 2015’s narrow seven-point Elimination Final loss to the Crows came despite booting four of the first five goals of the game, with the defeat ultimately helping fuel the Club’s 2016 campaign and resulting Premiership.

Sunday’s emphatic victory has not only secured the Bulldogs its first finals appearance since that glorious October day three years ago, but has also well and truly buried any remnant of those harrowing finals losses.