IMO, the Dogs are an illusion.
Here's a brief analysis of their season I posted elsewhere last week:
"Was just curious as to how the Bulldogs have ended up where they are right now. Here's how:
Round 1 - Defeated WC by 10 points (early days, anything can happen in these rounds)
Round 2 - Defeated Richmond by 19 points (as above)
Round 3 - Lost to Hawthorn by 70 points
Round 4 - Defeated Adelaide by 57 points (good win, I'll give em that one)
Round 5 - Defeated Sydney by 4 points (another good one)
Fairly impressive up to that point, it must be said (Hawthorn loss aside). But look at their draw past round 5:
Round 6 - Lost to St Kilda by 7 points
Round 7 - Lost to Fremantle by 13 points
Round 8 - Lost to Melbourne by 38 points
Round 9 - Defeated GWS by 45 points
Round 10 - Lost to Port by 38 points
Round 11 - Bye
Round 12 - Defeated Brisbane by 72 points
Round 13 - Defeated St Kilda by 6 points
Round 14 - Defeated Carlton by 11 points
Round 15 - Defeated Gold Coast by 22 points
Round 16 - Lost to Geelong by 8 points
Round 17 - Defeated Collingwood by 18 points
Round 18 - Defeated Essendon by 87 points
Round 19 - Defeated Port by 64 points
The only half decent sides they've played in that stretch are Geelong and Fremantle, and they've lost to both. And in the remaining 4 rounds they still have Melbourne and Brisbane to play. If that is not the softest draw this game has ever seen, I'm the ******* Queen of England.
Pretenders."