The Western Bulldogs have been in the AFL for almost a century, but despite making the finals many times over that period, have never once crossed paths with Carlton or Richmond in a final.
It makes an interesting contrast with the league's newest team, the GWS Giants.
In just eight short seasons, the Giants have met the Western Bulldogs twice already in finals. The most recent of those was just last year, when the Dogs fell short of GWS at Giants Stadium in a fiery encounter.
The first of those finals, though, is the one that will live long in the memories of not just Bulldogs fans but footy fans everywhere. The 2016 Preliminary Final, in which the Dogs broke a long drought to make their first Grand Final in 55 years.
That match, widely hailed as one of the greatest games ever played, helped cement what has rapidly developed into one of footy's greatest team rivalries, fuelled by player transfers and at times spiteful on-field encounters.
But it was this day eight years ago that the rivalry began in earnest. It was on that day that the Western Bulldogs travelled to Canberra to take on the Giants for the very first time for premiership points.
The Giants skipper that day was an ex-Bulldog, Callan Ward, one of the Giants' inaugural star signings. Ward had played 60 games in the hoops and his move to GWS was certainly the cause of some angst among Doggies fans.
Playing alongside Ward that day was another former Bulldog, Sam Reid, and the Dogs' team also included two players who would later become Giants — Dylan Addison, and the most controversial one of all, Ryan Griffen.
Griffen was in fact one of the Bulldogs’ best players in the first meeting of those two sides. The Dogs overcame a slow start to boot eight goals to three in the second term, and then pulled away to win by 42 points.
Griffen gathered 37 touches and kicked a goal to pick up two Brownlow votes, while Bulldog captain Matthew Boyd (35 disposals and a goal) was awarded the maximum three.
It was, of course, only two and a half years later that Ryan Griffen left the Bulldogs and went to the Giants in a deal that saw Tom Boyd come to Whitten Oval. It was a painful event at the time, but it also signalled a new beginning for the club, one which would take the Bulldogs to a premiership in 2016, with Tom Boyd one of the stars of the Grand Final.
The next chapter in the Bulldogs-Giants ‘feud’ has been postponed for now, but is eagerly awaited by players and fans of both clubs.
The rivalry promises to be intense for years to come, having had its beginnings, in a sense, on this day eight years ago.
