The Western Bulldogs have had some really good rivalries over the course of the 21st century: The more modern ones with the Giants and the Swans have been well and truly documented and I can’t understate the Bulldogs’ fans and their hatred for sides such as St. Kilda, Adelaide and Geelong - with the Bulldogs involved in some pulsating games of football with all three of those teams over the years.
But if there’s one rivalry that I can’t talk highly enough, it is the Bulldogs’ rivalry with North Melbourne. I don't think it gets talked about enough in the AFL circles. The Dogs and the Roos, along with Hawthorn, joined the league in 1925. For years now, both teams, along with the Saints, have been seen as Victoria’s battlers - what I mean by that is that they are among some of the teams that have struggled for success the way teams like Carlton, Essendon, Hawthorn and Collingwood have had over the course of the journey.
Still, The Dogs and North have played many a good game since 2000, and if it wasn't a close result, there was always an underlying storyline that lied underneath that made the game somewhat memorable. For example, Barry Hall putting Scott Thompson in a headlock in 2010 or Drew Petrie kicking six goals in the first quarter to bury the Dogs then and there in Glenn Archer’s 300th game.
The Dogs have won a few close ones. North have won some others, which is why I’m going to list off seven of my favourite games between the Bulldogs and North Melbourne since 2000.
Round 22, 2015 - Western Bulldogs (14.12.96) defeated North Melbourne (10.13.73)
I don’t think this one will go down as the match of the 2015 season, but for me, this was still thrilling and exciting enough that it deserves a spot on this list. Sixth vs seventh in a possible Elimination Final preview. The Dogs were one of the form teams in the back half of the 2015 season,whilst North were travelling pretty well themselves, winning their past seven games. Oh, and this was Shaun Higgins’ first game against his old Bulldogs team mates, so you can tell this one was going to be good.
After a sluggish opening term, where both teams just put one goal on the board, things started to take shape in the second term. North kicked the opening two goals and looked seemingly in control, before the Bulldogs kicked four goals in a row in the latter stages of the second term to hold a nine-point lead at half-time. Jason Johannisen kicked the Dogs’ fifth in a row to start the third term, before North kicked back to make it a three-point ball game shortly afterwards. From there until late in the term, it was a bit of a lull, with both teams missing opportunities to get the real upper hand, but Stewart Crameri kicked the Dogs’ second goal of the term in the 23rd minute to open up a two-kick margin before the final break.
In the final term, things opened up.Higgins kicked a goal in the opening minute to the mass boos from his ex-supporters, and then the Dogs kicked three goals in quick succession, before North fired back with three of their own. With five points separating the two sides midway through the quarter, the Bulldogs followed on with another three goals in quick succession to make sure of the result and respond from a big loss the week before.
Round 14, 2006 - Western Bulldogs (12.10.82) defeated by North Melbourne (13.16.94)
Jesus, the 2006 AFL season was a very bizarre season for the Western Bulldogs.They recorded amazing upset victories over the powerhouses that were Adelaide, West Coast and even put in an amazing Elimination Final over the fifth-placed Collingwood. And dropped games unexpectedly throughout the year. This was one of those. The Kangaroos had been underwhelming all season and ultimately finished in the bottom four.
The Dogs, fresh off of a win in the West over the highly-rated West Coast the previous week were put under wraps for most of the afternoon at the MCG. After leading by 11 points at quarter time, the Roos held a buffer of roughly 3-4 goals for most of the day and led by as much as 27 points in the third quarter, before the Bulldogs started making a late charge, kicking four of the next five to reduce the margin to just five points heading into three-quarter time.
The Bulldogs actually took the lead early in the last quarter, courtesy to Matthew Robbins kicking his fourth goal of the afternoon. But it was North on the back of good work from Jess Sinclair, Corey Jones and Troy Makepeace and five goals from Nathan Thompson that held firm fora two-goal win and ensuring North got their fifth win of the season, and arguably their best win of 2006.
Round 14, 2017 - Western Bulldogs (15.17.107) defeated North Melbourne (16.10.106)
The 2017 season saw the Bulldogs and the Kangaroos play out two thrillers. The first one was the very first Good Friday game, which was decided by three points, it was an ugly first half, but it shone through in the second half. The second game, I’d argue, was better. The Bulldogs had been pantsed by both Sydney and Melbourne in the games leading up and North had been struggling since the last meeting. But this game ebbed and flowed all night.
The Dogs got out to a fast start and lead by three straight kicks at quarter time. North pegged the lead back to within a goal early in the second, but the Dogs wrangled control back and led by 21 at the main break. North again tried to come back, but the Dogs had all the answers. A 13-point three-quarter time lead to the Bulldogs became a 26-point lead 11 minutes into the final term, before North made one final push.
Down a point 25 minutes into the term, Ben Brown took a big grab inside 50 and snapped what would’ve been the goal to put them ahead, but team mate Mason Wood gave away a free kick for an illegal block on Tom Campbell. Shaun Higgins tied it up moments later with a behind, before the Bulldogs found a way up the other end, with Jake Stringer kicking the golden point to win it at the death. My heart nearly stopped that night, that game was such a pulsating match.
Round 10, 2003 - Western Bulldogs (22.13.145) defeated by North Melbourne (24.12.156)
We’re heading back to the Peter Rohde era again, but this time we’re covering a Bulldogs’ loss - the words Peter Rohde and losing go hand in hand like high-school lovers. The 2003 season was easily the worst season from the red, white and blue in this century, they won their first wooden spoon since 1982 and won only three games for the year, including a stretch from round two to round 15, where they only managed to add one draw to their total.
However, of the 18 losses we, as Bulldog fans, had to suffer from in 2003, this one was perhaps the most weird, and arguably, fun of the lot. How fun you may ask? How often do you see games where the two teams combine for 46 goals? The answer is not a great amount, so games like these are diamonds in the rough. The Dogs held a two-point lead at quarter time after both teams kicked seven goals in a first-quarter shootout.
You can argue it was another one that got away from the Dogs considering that they had lead for most of the match and held a 34-point lead late in the second term and a 37-point lead midway through the third term. From there, North had a barrage of six goals in eight minutes of football to get back to a two-point deficit. Although the Dogs still held the advantage at the final break, North dominated the rest of the play of the match. You can argue that North should’ve won by more than 11 points, given they kicked 5.7 in the final term, but these two teams played one of the games of the season on this day.
Round 6, 2004 - WesternBulldogs (19.6.120) defeated North Melbourne (18.11.119)
Remember when North Melbourne played home games in Canberra? Pepperidge Farm remembers.2004 was a horrid year for the Western Bulldogs, winning only five games in the season-two of those were against the Kangaroos. Their first encounter at Manuka Oval was looking like another disastrous day at the office for Peter Rohde and his Bulldogs.
After a high-scoring opening quarter to which North held a two-goal advantage, the floodgates opened up with North kicking eight goals in the second term to hold a lead as great as 40 points, before Daniel Giansiracusa gave Dogs fans a little bit of hope to give them a 34-point deficit to deal with at half time.The Dogs kicked three of the first four goals of the third term, but the Roos maintained that six-goal advantage by the final break.
However, on the back of great work from Scott West and Brad Johnson,the Dogs kicked seven goals to one to win it by a point, the goal to win it came in the dying seconds when Johnson literally stumbled over in the goal-square and tapped it in with his boot. It was a marvellous end to what was an inspiring fightback.Also, a shoutout to the second game in 2004, when Matthew Croft-a key defender for most of his career, kicked five goals in his last match to sink the Roos.
Round 9, 2008 - Western Bulldogs (16.14.110) defeated by North Melbourne (16.17.113)
This one hurts me as a Bulldog supporter, this was one that got away. But as they always say, you can’t win them all. The Western Bulldogs headed into this match unbeaten, with seven wins and one draw, however, the Roos weren’t doing too bad themselves, with four wins in a draw from eight games.
This one looked like a beauty from the outset, the scores were deadlocked at quarter time at 5.3 apiece - the Dogs kicking four of the first five, before North clawed back. However, the Dogs managed to open up a buffer of four goals by half-time through good play by Jason Akermanis, Robert Murphy and others. They kept their distance ahead of North until late in the third when former Hawk Nathan Thompson decided that he was going to put the team on his back and got them to within 11 points at three-quarter time.
From there, North took the lead midway through the term and led by as much as 10 points late in the game. Brad Johnson had two opportunities earlier in the game to wrest momentum but hit the post on both occasions. He kicked a goal late to make it a one-kick game, before missing his third shot of the term after the siren. I don’t like bringing that game back up, but as a lover of the game, it was still a good game to watch.
Round 21, 2018 - Western Bulldogs (13.14.92) defeated North Melbourne (12.13.85)
This one was just too good not to leave out. These two played out a heart-stopping encounter early in the season that was won by North Melbourne after a combination of the Bulldogs turning the ball over in the final minute and North being quicker on the transition, which led to Jack Ziebell kicking the game winner.In the lead up to this game, North Melbourne were a game outside the eight and had the percentage to jump Port Adelaide in eighth place.
Whilst they were fighting for a Finals spot, the Bulldogswere condemned to a bottom-six finish,after a horror year. The opening half was perhaps everything you’d expect out of a side playing fo rFinals and a team considered an ‘also-ran.’ North, with everything to play for, dominated theBulldogs in the secondterm, kicking seven goals to three to take a 28-point lead into half time,thanks to three goals from Ben Brown and Shaun Higgins causing problems in the middle.
Unbelievably, the Bulldogs fought back with an extraordinary quarter of their own, kicking the first five goals of the third quarter to unbelievably take the lead midway through the third term. Brown kicked his fourth of the afternoon to give North back the lead, but the Bulldogs piled on another three goals in as many minutes and never let go of the lead from there on in. There were plenty of nervy moments in the last quarter as both sides had plenty of opportunities, but both teams failed to add much to their respective scores. By full-time, the Dogs were ahead by seven points, to make it one of th erare shining spots on what was otherwise considered a gloomy season.
I’d love to keep talking about games like these, but that would mean another two pages of content at least. Do you have a favourite game between the Bulldogs and the Kangaroos? Is it not on the list, yet should? Let me know!!!