This Sunday the Western Bulldogs will play Melbourne for the 176th time since joining the VFL as Footscray in 1925. Over the past century the two clubs have met in some very important games, including of course the 1954 and 2021 Grand Finals, with the first of those etched into Club legend as it delivered the Bulldogs their first premiership.
It took a while after joining the VFL in 1925 for the Dogs to break through for a win against the Demons. In fact, in a dozen games over the first six-and-a-half seasons Footscray failed to record a single win against Melbourne.
The Bulldogs came very close once during that time, playing out a draw against the Fuchsias (as Melbourne were then known) in Round 5, 1929. The Dogs came back from a 35-point quarter-time deficit to salvage that draw, with two of the club’s recently announced ‘25 Greatest’ - Alby Morrison and Allan Hopkins - playing pivotal roles. Morrison kicked four goals and Hopkins two that afternoon.
Morrison was again a key contributor when the Bulldogs finally broke through for their first VFL win against Melbourne in Round 16, 1931. He kicked three of his side’s 10 goals as the Dogs recorded a 34-point win, in which they restricted Melbourne to just 5.8.38, setting a new record for the lowest score conceded by Footscray to that point.
Remarkably, having broken through for that win, the Bulldogs won their next three encounters against Melbourne, that four-game winning streak not bettered until the Dogs won six in a row against the Demons under Terry Wallace from 1997 to 2001. That four-game streak took in Footscray’s first-ever VFL win at the MCG, a 20-point triumph in Round 5, 1933.
The Western Bulldogs have registered some of their biggest wins against Melbourne in their century of VFL footy. Of the 12 wins by 100 or more points the Dogs have recorded in that period three have come against the Demons, more than any other opponent.
The first came in Round 9, 1951, when the Dogs doled out a 103-point thrashing to Melbourne at the MCG. For the winners Alby Linton kicked six goals and Reg Egan kicked five, as did a 17-year-old named Ted Whitten. History shows that Whitten went on to become a pretty good player for the Dogs.
More than three decades later in 1985, the Dogs dealt the Demons an even bigger hiding, this time at Western (now Mission Whitten) Oval. With Simon Beasley kicking a dozen majors and skipper Jim Edmond five, the Dogs won by 120 points, which remained a record winning margin for the Dogs until they defeated North Melbourne by 128 points on Good Friday, 2021.
In 1992 Melbourne returned to Western Oval and received another three-figure flogging. Danny Del-Re (seven goals) and Brian Royal (six) ran riot, kicking 13 majors between them. In fact the entire Bulldogs team ran riot throughout the afternoon, the margin increasing at the end of each term. It was 19 points at quarter time, 33 at the long break and 52 at the last change before being more than doubled in a last-quarter avalanche that delivered 10 goals to one the Dogs’ way. The final margin was 107 points.
Not as big a win but far more important was Footscray’s win over Melbourne in the 1961 preliminary final. The Dogs jumped out to an early lead and held the Demons at bay throughout the afternoon to win their way through to their second Grand Final in seven years. The final margin was 27 points, with Jack Slattery kicking four goals for the winners and Merv Hobbs booting three.
As great a win as that was, it pales in comparison to the one the Bulldogs recorded against the Demons seven years earlier, on September 25, 1954.
It was on that day that captain-coach Charlie Sutton’s pre-game instruction to his charges – “Shop early and avoid the rush” – was followed to the letter. The Bulldogs booted six goals to one in the first quarter to open up a 29-point lead, then fought off a second-quarter challenge from Melbourne before running away to win by 51 points. Star full forward Jack Collins bagged seven goals, and Sutton himself kicked three.
The Western Bulldogs defeated Melbourne at the MCG on their way to breaking through for a second flag in 2016, and will be looking to do the same on Sunday in their quest to keep alive the dream of another VFL/AFL Doggies premiership in 2025.
