The Western Bulldogs are having a premiership hangover.
Lost in the drama surrounding Nathan Buckley's future at Collingwood and the Tom Bugg hit, the Bulldogs sit precariously placed at 10th on the ladder with seven wins and seven losses. Arguably, only a single win this year can be considered "convincing", their Round 10 victory over St Kilda.
And it won't get any easier for them this week, facing one of the hardest road trips in football, Adelaide in Adelaide.
They now sit one game outside the eight, equal on points with the rampant Sydney Swans. With another four teams chasing them one win behind and with the rounds rapidly ticking down, the Bulldogs risk becoming the first premiership team to miss finals the following year since Hawthorn in 2009.
Opposition coaches have worked out how to nullify Jason Johanissen, his output having fallen dramatically in contrast to his Norm Smith winning 2016 and the abolition of the third man up means they have had to dramatically re-adapt their game-style.
Meanwhile, Marcus Bontempelli, Jake Stringer, Tom Liberatore, Tory Dickson and Luke Dahlhaus have all suffered form slumps at different points this season.
Perhaps it is unfair to single out the Bulldogs given their injury problems. While their current injury list is not as long as Geelong or GWS, the quality of players on their injury list would cause problems for any team.
Lin Jong and Marcus Adams are both best-22 players who will not play for the rest of the season. Josh Dunkley is expected to miss five to six weeks, while Tom Liberatore is listed as a test on the club website. Their tall player stocks have also taken a hit in recent weeks.
Luke Dahlhaus, Jake Stringer, Liam Picken, Bob Murphy and Mitch Wallis have all spent time on the injury list at some point this season.
Further compounding their injury issues is the news that key forward Tom Boyd will be unavailable for selection indefinitely as he battles depression.
But that should be no excuse for a team which has won a premiership built around the idea of a prototypical and versatile footballer. Each player in Luke Beveridge's system is expected to be able to play at least two positions - or at the very least, play one position very well.
Beveridge is renowned for his 'no holds barred' approach to team selection, readily dropping under-performing star players and rewarding strongly VFL performances.
The game against one of the premiership favourites in Adelaide this weekend will give us a a clearer indication of where the Bulldogs are heading this year. While the odds are firmly stacked against them, a good performance, enough to build momentum for the remainder of the season, should be the aim.
We know the kind of football the Bulldogs are capable of. A performance worthy of the premiership tag in Adelaide could set up a late run to September and yet another surprise finals series.
A poor performance could all but spell the end of the Bulldogs' premiership defence.
