The Doggies aye, somehow they've emerged as a contender for the Ship after a very up and down season. They face the Panthers this week in a match that they could very well win thanks to their size and aggression through the middle, which would put them in the Grand Final. We know that anything can happen in Grand Finals don't we.

The Bulldogs are far form your typical NRL side and I questioned them many times at the start of the season as they didn't really have a fullback. They had a few options, wingers who could play fullback but in today's NRL you need a fullback who can influence the game consistently - just look at Matt Moylan and the Panthers. Not only has Sam Perrett shown that he can wear the number 1 jersey for a very long time, but Des Hasler has got this Doggies side playing like no other team in the NRL.

It starts with the forwards. Obviously James Graham is a key here, his ability to distribute the ball is huge and keeps the opposition constantly puzzled. He's enough of a work horse that he'll get through a mountain of carries and tackles - he hovers around the 30 tackle mark and consistently gets over 100m. Throw in to the mix that he's a ball player who's options have been well documented by Andrew Johns - he can carry the ball, pass short outside, pass short inside and pass out the back, but his decision making - when to pass and who to pass to is second to none.

This all allows the other forwards to be big angry men. You don't hear about Aiden Tolman too often which is good because he does the shit no one else wants to do. You definitely hear about big Dave Klemmer because he's a beast and this prop rotation for the Bulldogs can basically get them anywhere they want on the field.

A quick jump to the halves because this is where they come in to play with a forward pack that can do as they please. Trent Hodkinson and Josh Reynolds aren't the world's best halves, they don't have the talent of a Jonathan Thurston or Cooper Cronk, but they win. They win because their forwards get them to where they wanna be allowing Hodkinson and Reynolds to simply execute their plays and do a simple job. There isn't a whole lot to it, they're just very good at kicking, passing and execute what Des Hasler has organised.

Two key men however are Michael Ennis and Sam Perrett. Ennis is in the form of his life and combines toughness with subtleness out of dummy half. He won't be as threatening as Isaac Luke but he'll keep the makers honest with his running game and importantly, he knows who to give the ball to and when. Perrett has developed in to a great ball playing fullback. There was a play against Manly where Perrett received the ball out the back behind two decoy runners, a tricky little situation. Perrett started on the inside of decoy #1 and drifted with the pass (like Brett Stewart) to receive it on the outside of decoy #2. He's so much more than I gave him credit for at the start of the year and he's another player who simply does what was drawn up on the whiteboard at training. He won't create something crazy by himself, but he'll execute the plan perfectly.

A quick word on the outside backs - they're good. Tim Lafai and Morris are hard to handle, good defensively and don't make too many mistakes. They're a physical nightmare as well which means they can dominate the edges. Ah the edges.

Josh Jackson is a future Origin player, possible Kangaroos bolter and all round monster. He locks down one edge and is an athletic monster so he can do the tough stuff as well as putting on some footwork to trouble defenders. Tony Williams has had his stints doing some play making but don't be fooled, that was just to get by. I'm assuming by the way the Bulldogs have traveled through the season that Hasler didn't really care how his lads went during the regular season as long as they made the finals. Now we're seeing T-Rex run the ball first, do some nifty skills second. He's a mission to tackle and it's going to be interesting to see how he goes against the Panthers who will probably send Jamal Idris in to help stop him. The return of Frank Pritchard is also key and it follows my theory of Hasler only caring about the finals. Pritchard was a ghost during the season thanks to injury obviously but he conveniently reappeard just before the finals. He's another monster on the edge, you get where I'm going with this? A pack full of monsters is hard to handle.

Why has Corey Thompson had such a great year? Because he simply does his job, which is theme throughout this Bulldogs side and the good NRL sides. Both he and Mitch Brown are tasked with taking the tough carries along with finishing off back line moves. Some people might scoff at wingers and how they don't really do a whole lot, but if you're a winger who scores the majority of the time you catch a pass 5 metres out from the try line, kudos.

The real mastermind at play here is obviously Des Hasler. I reckon he's much smarter than we give him credit for and I use the way he created a halves pairing from nothing while Hodkinson and Reynolds were casually winning NSW's first Origin series in yonks. Hindsight suggests that Hasler was just trying to get by until the pieces of the puzzle came together. if they hadn't made the 8 then there would have been no puzzle which is where the work ethic, attitude and clinical nature of the Dogs comes in to play - would they be where they are now without all those 1 point victories? Hmm.

Defence? Well it's mandatory that the top teams have a good defence so yeah.

To be honest, I dislike the Doggies but they're good. A big old crop of forwards who have shown since Hasler's shift that they can adapt to the various game plans he conjures up. Don't be surprised to see them make the GF, if they do it might be the toughest, grittiest and kinda ugly GF in history but hey.